Shadowchasers Nightfall
by Schwarzwald Hunter
Summary: Strange happenings are going on in River City, and it's up to the Shadowchasers to save the day! Literally, this time.
1. Water Hazard

_Water, water everywhere._

 _Human beings have always had an interesting relationship with the ocean. They obviously were built for land, but that hasn't stopped them from exploring. Evidence of maritime trading dates back at least two millennia, and every ancient mythology has an ocean deity of some kind. Speaking of mythology..._

 _One of the most common characters in folklore is the mermaid, and, to a lesser extent, the merman. The Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia; stories of these aquatic creatures are found all over the world. The details vary from story to story, but there's always the same common elements. Merfolk are beautiful, alluring, and mysterious, just like the ocean itself._

 _But the ocean is just as deadly as it is beautiful. Mermaid lore reflects this as well, with stories of them drowning sailors and causing shipwrecks. Some ancient superstitions had sailors and fishermen throw coins and other treats into the water to appease its residents. The lesson is simple: respect the sea, or else._

 _Why do I care? Let's just say the ocean and I have a special connection._

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 01 - Water Hazard**

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

Caspian rode through the River City harbor and into the downtown area, singing to himself. He was a tall, athletically built young man, with dark skin, stormy grey eyes and wild, rust red hair. He had a small scar under one eye, which wasn't noticeable unless you were looking directly at it. He was singing to himself in the native tongue of his people... one of them, anyways.

 _"Ka makau nui a Maui,_

 _O Manaiakalani,_

 _Kona aho, hilo honua ke kaa,_

 _Hau hia amoamo Kauiki."_

The Hawaiian youth kept riding until he saw what he was looking for: A warehouse marked with a tidal wave and crescent moon, the symbol of the Hudson Street Wolf Pack. Werewolves weren't exactly common in River City, since they didn't like water, but there were enough of them to form a pack, and a rather infamous one at that. They had been on and off the Shadowchasers' radar for months, mostly for petty crimes, but their most recent skirmish with the law was impossible to ignore.

Parking his Duel Runner outside, Caspian double checked his valuables and locks; you could never be too careful in this part of the city. He had his Duel Disk strapped to one arm and his sword hanging at his side. He walked in through the door, which didn't have any guards. No need, when the place was full of werewolves. "Where's your Alpha? I need to have a chat about that bar fight she started yesterday." The Shadowchaser asked, his tone indicating that it wouldn't be pleasant.

"Can't a girl have a little fun?" She chuckled, making herself known. She was a shapely young woman with long, dark hair tied into a ponytail and bright golden eyes. An Aware would see that her tan skin was covered in grey fur, her teeth were fangs, and her nails were actually claws. It would be easy to mistake her for a typical she-wolf, if not for the aura of superiority she seemed to radiate, signifying that she was indeed an Alpha.

"You put three people in the hospital, and nearly turned two others." Caspian looked around, counting the number of lycans in the warehouse. Too many to take down on his own, even with the help of his sword and magic. "You've got two options, Sheila. Option one, surrender now and I can get you a reduced sentence. Option two, we have a duel, and I deal with another complaint of sending headquarters a wet dog."

Sheila snarled, her eyes flashing. "And why should I bother following the Treaty? There's twelve of us, and only one of you, fish boy." Her pack looked up, suddenly taking interest in the intruder. It wasn't often that someone made Sheila this angry so early in the day. Caspian sighed and raised his right arm, a ring of pure energy shooting out and latching onto Sheila's wrist.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to use a Duel Anchor today." He sighed, activating his Duel Disk. "Why does every Shadow in this city have to be so difficult? It's a waste of perfectly good magic." Sheila growled and put on her Disk as well, unable to do anything while the Shadowchaser had her captive. "Beat me and we can fight the way you want. Lose, and you have to come quietly." He explained the terms of their duel.

 **(Sheila LP 8000) - (Caspian LP 8000)**

"Ladies first!" Sheila drew her opening hand, wanting to get this over with quickly.

 _I'd hardly call_ you _a lady_ , Caspian thought, but decided not to say it out loud.

"I set a monster, and then I'll activate Heart of The Underdog!" A continuous spell appeared before her, depicting a roughneck-type youth. "It's effect doesn't kick in until next turn, so I'll just set these and end it for now." Two back row cards appeared, one on each side of her spell.

Caspian drew a card, then looked over his hand. He smiled, already able to use one of his favorite combos. "Do you like sports, Sheila? Because this card was made with a specific one in mind."

"I activate Service Ace! Now you have to guess whether a card in my hand is a monster, spell or trap, and if you get it wrong, you take 1500 points of damage." He lifted up a single card, a hologram of a robotic tennis player appearing behind him. "Oh, and I have to banish the card afterwards."

The werewolf frowned and tapped her foot, not expecting a guessing game. "Uh... I'm going with monster." She decided, groaning when Caspian turned around the card to reveal a spell. He pocketed it, and the phantom tennis player launched a ball of glowing energy at his opponent, which exploded in her face.

"I summon Abyss Soldier!" The summoning portal opened up, and out swam what looked like a humpback whale, but with arms and legs, and carrying a trident. (1800 ATK). The Alpha wolf blinked and stared at the monster her opponent just played.

"Of course he's using Water monsters." One of Sheila's pack members quipped, "Make sushi out of this fish, Sheila!" Several of the others began cheering on their Alpha, shouting similar insults.

Caspian closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Okay, what you just said right there, that is _so_ racist." He replied, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing before regaining his composure. "I activate his effect! By discarding one Water-Attribute monster from my hand, I can return one card on your field to your hand."

The Shadowchaser slid a card into his Duel Disk's discard slot, and Abyss Soldier raised its trident, blasting a bolt of energy at one of Sheila's face down cards. She grumbled, taking it out of the Spell/Trap Zone and adding it to her hand. "Attack! Trident of Cetus!" The whale rushed forward, impaling the set monster on its weapon. Sheila's mystery card was revealed to be a muscular fiend covered in eyes, which quickly shattered.

"You activated Big Eye's effect! Now I can look at the top 5 cards of my Deck and rearrange them however I want." She said, pulling off the cards and studying them. She grinned, not even attempting a poker face, and made a few changes before placing them back.

 _Well she's clearly happy with what she got._ Caspian thought, trying to analyze his opponent. _Since she's got Heart of The Underdog on the field, she's probably playing a Vanilla Beatdown deck. Unless she's smarter than she looks..._ "I set this and end my turn." He played a back row card and nodded.

 **(SLP 6500) - (CLP 8000)**

"My turn, I draw!" Sheila looked at what she drew and grinned. "And I activate the effect of Heart of The Underdog. If I draw a Normal Monster during my Draw Phase, I can show it to you and draw again." She turned the card around, revealing it to be Battle Ox.

"And again." The next card was Phantom Gryphon. "Again." Gene-Warped Warwolf. "And again." Gemini Elf. The werewolf stopped drawing there, grinning from ear to ear, which was a most unpleasant sight for her opponent. "Now to actually play them. I activate Hand Destruction, now we both have to toss 2 cards and draw 2 replacements." She discarded Cyber-Tech Alligator and Gemini Elf, while Caspian discarded the only card in his hand, King of The Swamp. They both drew twice.

"I'm summoning one of my favorite monsters, Gene-Warped Warwolf!" The monster that appeared barely resembled a werewolf at all, at least in the traditional sense. It had four arms, bright red claws on the ends of its black hands, and a strange plate-like covering on its humanoid face. (2000 ATK)

"Next, I'll activate my face down, Birthright! This brings back a Normal Monster from the grave, like the one I just sent there!" A summoning portal opened up on the ground, and out flew an even stranger monster. It seemed to be a cyborg dragon of some sort, with metallic armor covering half its body, and a pair of wings, one biological and the other mechanical. (2500 ATK)

"This is going to hurt..." Caspian groaned, as the two monsters charged forward. Warwolf punched Abyss Soldier repeatedly with its four arms, until the whale shattered. Then, Cyber-Tech Alligator raked him across the chest with its mechanical claw, causing the Shadowtouched to stumble backwards in pain. "Yep, that definitely hurt."

Sheila grinned and set two cards behind her monsters. "Heh, that was fun. I'm enjoying this more than I expected." She chuckled, her pack howling in approval. Caspian grumbled and drew his third card, standing up once again.

"The duel's hardly over, fleabag." He cursed, taking a card out of his pocket and revealing it. "It's been a full turn since Card from a Different Dimension was banished, so now it returns to my hand, and we both draw two cards." His hand total rose to 6, while Sheila's became 7.

"I'm banishing Sea Steel Piranha from my graveyard in order to Special Summon Aqua Spirit from my hand!" A swarm of bubbles burst up from the ground, condensing into a pretty sea nymph with green skin and a billowing dress. (1200 DEF)

Right behind Caspian, another hologram appeared, this one of a small, metallic fish with gigantic teeth. "My fishy friend has an effect that activates whenever he's banished. It takes one of your Spell or Trap cards with him!" He looked at Sheila's cards, then quickly decided on one of the face downs. The piranha dove down like a missile, causing the trap to vanish completely. She grunted, it had been Sakuretsu Armor, the card that got bounced the last round.

"I activate Sea Steel Migration, which lets me Special Summon a low level Sea Steel monster from my hand, so long as I banish another monster with the same level from my Deck. I choose my Buckler Turtle!" He threw another card onto his disk, summoning a sea turtle with a metal shield in place of its shell. (800 ATK)

"The monster I'm removing from my Deck is also a Sea Steel. Specifically, Thorn Starfish." The card ejected out of Caspian's disk, and he pocketed it, activating the auto-shuffler. "And that's just the beginning."

Sheila huffed, annoyed. "Let me guess, banishing it activates some effect?" She frowned, seeing that she was correct. Another monster swam onto her opponent's field, this one a small starfish, the same metallic color as the piranha, with sharp spikes covering its limbs. (900 ATK)

"When Starfish is banished, it summons a copy of itself from my Deck, and then you get hit with 500 points of damage!" The minuscule monster raised its head, launching several thorns at Sheila. She grunted at the phantom pain, one of them hitting her directly in the eye. "There's a reason fish travel in schools," Caspian lectured, "They're not always strong on their own, but they know there's safety in numbers."

"I play the field spell Fusion Gate!" The Shadowtouched slid another card into his Duel Disk, and the field became covered in a neon green grid. It looked like a computer simulation that hadn't fully loaded yet. "In case you don't know, Fusion Gate lets both of us Fusion Summon without using a Fusion spell, but the material monsters all get removed from play." Several of the werewolves whimpered, not knowing what would come next.

"I fuse Sea Steel Thorn Starfish with Sea Steel Buckler Turtle!" The two sea creatures rose into the sky, forming the familiar image of Polymerization. " _Armored beasts of the abyssal waters, come together and form a creature that dominates both sky and sea!_ Fusion Summon!"

The entire warehouse seemed to shake, as if it was about to be torn down. A violet summoning portal opened behind them, releasing a tidal wave, flooding the field, and a brand new monster. It was clearly a black manta ray, albeit one the size of a truck, but also strangely resembled a jet. Its tail lashed, crackling with energy. (2600 ATK)

"Meet my absolute favorite card, Sea Steel Jet Manta."Caspian explained, reaching out and stroking the beast's wings. It seemed to respond affectionately, circling the warehouse, even flying over the peanut gallery, several of whom were hiding behind their leader. "She might not look like it, but she's a pretty excitable gal. In fact, when she's summoned, she has to expend some of that energy. In game terms, she blasts away 300 of your Life Points for each of my banished Water monsters."

Before Sheila could say anything, the fusion flew up and pointed its tail at her, firing a bolt of lightning. She practically howled in pain, the electric attack only increasing in intensity thanks to the water soaked field. Falling on her backside, she groaned, and could swear she saw starfish circling around her head.

"Oh, and I have a third Starfish in my Deck, so I'll be summoning him as well." The Shadowchaser played another card, summoning the last copy of his invertebrate monster. Sheila winced as it fired at her. "Jet Manta, attack Cyber-Tech Alligator with Deep Sea Shocker!" The ray stabbed the cyborg with its tail, causing it to burst into pixels. "And _that_ ends my turn." Caspian said, giving a cocky smile. He always got a strange satisfaction from playing his ace monster.

 **(SLP 4200) - (CLP 5300)**

"You alright, boss?" A werewolf asked, helping his Alpha to her feet. She pushed him off her, grinning as she drew her next card. "Better than ever, Greg. I haven't had this much fun in weeks!" Sheila looked over her hand, her expression not giving away anything yet.

"By the way, during each of your Standby Phases, Aqua Spirit lets me change one of your monsters from offense to defense, or vice versa, and prevents you from changing them back until your next turn." Caspian interrupted, the sea nymph blowing a cloud of bubbles at Gene-Warped Warwolf, causing it to kneel. (100 DEF)

"I activate Dark World Dealings! Now we both draw one card, and discard another." Sheila sent Battle Ox to her Graveyard, and Caspian discarded his now useless Card from a Different Dimension. "Next, I'm summoning Phantom Gryphon!" A somewhat unusual take on the classical gryphon flew onto the field. It had a blue, leonid body, with the head, wings and feet of a golden eagle. It cawed aggressively (ATK 2000)

"Ugh, I hate birds." The Shadowtouched grimaced, thinking back to a time he suffered a painful loss to a Simorgh Lockdown duelist. "Nasty little things." He was never sure what evolution had been thinking, turning the dinosaurs into tiny, feathery things that tasted delicious. A few of the werewolves gave him a strange look, not expecting such a bizarre statement from a Shadowchaser.

"I literally couldn't care any less." Shiela rolled her eyes and threw another card into her disk. "It's time to end this! I activate Advanced Ritual Art!" The ground rumbled, and an enormous stone circle rose up. It was covered in glowing, teal runes, but not any kind that Caspian could recognize. "This spell can Ritual Summon _any_ Ritual Monster, but the tributes have to be Normal monsters from my deck."

She flipped through her deck, quickly discarding three copies each of Bunilla and Flamvell Guard. The tributes appeared on the stone alter, transforming into ghostly blue flames. "I'm not one for fancy chants or anything, and I'm sure this monster doesn't need any introduction." The flames gathered together, growing and forming into a familiar shape. A tall, muscular beast wearing, of all things, ragged blue shorts. "Meet my Lycanthrope!" (ATK 2400)

"He looks like you, but cleaner." Caspian quipped, but Sheila just shrugged it off, looking like, fittingly enough, a dog with a new bone. Lycanthrope charged forward, its silver claws shining in the neon light of Fusion Gate. Before the Shadowchaser could react, his opponent played another card.

"I activate Flying Dragon Whirl! I send 4 Dragon-Type monsters from my deck to the graveyard, and my handsome friend here gains 1200 attack points for the rest of the turn!" Lycanthrope's score rose to a whopping 3600, and it dug its claws into Jet Manta. Caspian grunted and watched his Life Points fall.

"Jet Manta's effect prevents her from being destroyed once per turn! And I chain activate Damage Diet!" He played his trap quickly, a transparent energy shield surrounding him. "All the damage I take this turn is cut in half, including from your mangy mutt's effect." Lycanthrope howled, creating an eruption of dark energy on Caspian's field which practically sent the Shadowchaser flying.

Sheila frowned, and activated her own trap. "Strike Slash gives my Gryphon 700 extra attack points, and lets it deal piercing damage! Now take out his sea fairy!" Phantom Gryphon flew straight at Aqua Spirit and crushed her in its talons, causing her to explode in a shower of bubbles. "I'll end my turn with that." The wolf seemed to be pouting, which looked very strange on someone with a snout.

 **(SLP 4200) - (CLP 2750)**

"That's it." Caspian pulled himself up, the water seeming to swirl around his feet. He drew a card, bringing his hand up to three. "I'm ending this right now."

"I activate Soul Release! I can banish any five cards from either graveyard! And I'm choosing these ones." Five cards shot out of his discard slot, their holograms appearing and vanishing behind him. Aqua Spirit, Abyss Soldier, King of The Swamp, Card from a Different Dimension, & and... "When Sea Steel Migration is banished, I can take any Sea Steel monster from my deck and banish it! I'm choosing Sea Steel Barracuda!"

"And what's that do?" Sheila asked, not appreciating the dramatics that typically go hand in hand with dueling.

"He lets me send any two Sea Steel cards from my deck to the Graveyard, and then Special Summon him!" Out of the waters jumped another metallic fish, this one resembling a torpedo with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. (ATK 2200)

"And you called _my_ monsters ugly..." The wolf scoffed, unimpressed. She had Advanced Ritual Art in her hand, even if Caspian destroyed Lycanthrope, she only needed to draw an attack boosting card to finish him off the next turn. "I don't see how you're going to get close to winning this turn, even if you have another one of those mantas in your Extra Deck, I'll still have life points left."

"I actually only have one copy of most of my Sea Steel cards, they're a promotional series that haven't been released yet." Caspian explained, a proud smile on his face. "But enough bragging, let's get back to the duel. I use Fusion Gate's effect to fuse Sea Steel Thorn Starfish on my field with Sea Steel Chain Eel in my hand!" The starry invertebrate rose into the sky along with a new creature, a silvery eel with a chain link pattern. " _Creatures of the metal ocean, come together and make way for the heavy armored beast of the deep sea!_ Fusion Summon!"

The warehouse shook more violently than before, and an enormous sea creature rose from the depths! Most of the wolves panicked and hid behind Sheila, who was standing her ground. The monster was a coconut crab the size of a tank, which, coincidentally, was wearing one as if it was armor. (ATK 2600)

"This big fellow is Sea Steel King Crab! And if you thought your furry was powerful, just wait until you see this!" Caspian chuckled, patting the crustacean's claw. It glowed with teal energy, and its armor seemed to shine brightly. (ATK/DEF 2600/2000 - 4600/4000)

"Forty six hundred attack points?!"

"My crab gets 200 attack and defense for each of my banished water monsters. And right now, I've got ten." The Shadowtouched explained, looking at his two fusion monsters proudly. "Now let's show these dogs what happens when fish bite back! Barracuda, attack Gene-Warped Warwolf!" The fish dove down at its opponent like the missile it resembled, biting it in half. "And when he destroys a monster in battle, the damage is increased by 300!"

Before Sheila had time to react, Jet Manta flew over and plunged its electrifying tail into Phantom Gryphon, frying the winged beast. "Now for the grand finale! King Crab, attack Lycanthrope with Crustacean Crusher!" The hulking sea creature charged forward and seized the ritual monster in its claws, shattering it into pixels.

"So what? I've still got twelve hundred life points left!" Sheila reminded Caspian, growling. He chuckled and pointed upwards. She looked at King Crab, and saw that the gun of its tank was pointed right at her! "Um... what's that doing?"

"King Crab's special effect. When he crushes a monster, you take 200 extra damage for each of its levels." He explained. "You lose." It fired a blast of water at the werewolf, soaking her from head to toe.

 **(SLP 0) - (CLP 2750)**

"What was that about making sushi out of me?" Caspian chuckled, as the water and monster holograms vanished, as well as the Duel Anchor. He walked over to Sheila, removing a small blue gem from his pocket and flashing it. She became enveloped in blue light, and slowly vanished. "Another day, another successful arrest."

Looking around, Caspian saw that the other werewolves had fled. "They'll be back when they get a new alpha. Hope they're smarter this time." He took out his cellphone and checked for any recent calls. "Looks like I finished early. Maybe I have time for a swim..."

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

Anime/Manga Cards-

Service Ace: *an explosion on a tennis court*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Select 1 card in your hand. Your opponent must guess whether it is a Spell, Trap or Monster Card. Reveal it to your opponent. If they guessed wrong, inflict 1500 damage to your opponent. Remove from play the selected card when this card's effect resolves.

First Used: GX anime, "Courting Alexis"

Card From A Different Dimension: *card inside a machine, crackling with energy*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- If this card is Banished, return it to your hand during your next Draw Phase. When you do, both players draw 2 cards.

First Used: GX anime, "The Graduation Match Part 1"

Flying Dragon Whirl: *four different dragons under a superimposed image of a flame*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Quick-Play

Text- Target 1 face-up monster you control. Send up to 4 Dragon-Type monsters from your Deck to the Graveyard. The Targeted monster gains 300 ATK for each monster sent to the Graveyard by this effect, until the End Phase of this turn.

First Appeared: DM anime, "A Brawl in Small Town Part 2"

Original Cards-

Sea Steel Piranha: *small fish with razor sharp teeth and fins*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fish

Attribute- WATER

Level- 4

ATK/DEF- 1700/1000

Text- If you have 3 or more Banished WATER monsters, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. If you do, inflict 500 damage to your opponent. If this card is Banished by your own card effect, you can Target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field and Banish it.

Sea Steel Migration: *Swordfish jumping through a portal in the sky*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Quick-Play

Text- Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Sea Steel" monster from your hand or Graveyard, then Banish 1 WATER monster with the same Level from your Deck. When this card is Banished by your own card effect, you can select 1 "Sea Steel" monster in your Deck and Banish it. You can only use 1 effect of this card each turn.

Sea Steel Buckler Turtle: ?

Sea Steel Thorn Starfish: *metallic colored starfish covered in spikes*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Aqua

Attribute- WATER

Level- 3

ATK/DEF- 900/900

Text- If this card is Banished by the effect of a card you control, you can Special Summon 1 "Sea Steel Thorn Starfish" from your Deck. When a card is Special Summoned by this effect: Inflict 500 damage to your opponent.

Sea Steel Jet Manta: *gigantic black manta ray that resembles a fighter plane*

Card Type- Fusion Monster

Monster Type- Aqua

Attribute- WATER

Level- 7

ATK/DEF- 2600/1900

Text- 2 "Sea Steel" Monsters. When this card is Fusion Summoned, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the number of your Banished WATER monsters x 300. Once per turn, if this card would be destroyed in battle, it is not. If this face-up card is Banished by your own card effect, inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.

Sea Steel Barracuda: *razor toothed fish with a body resembling a torpedo*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fish

Attribute- WATER

Level- 6

ATK/DEF- 2200/1600

Text- Once per Duel, if this card was Banished by your own card effect, you can send 2 "Sea Steel" cards from your Deck to the Graveyard, then Special Summon this card in face up Attack Position. When this card destroys a monster in battle, inflict 300 damage to your opponent.

Sea Steel Chain Eel: ?

Sea Steel King Crab: *gigantic coconut crab with armor resembling a tank*

Card Type- Fusion Monster

Monster Type- Aqua

Attribute- WATER

Level- 7

ATK/DEF- 2600/2000

Text- 1 "Sea Steel" monster + 1 Aqua-Type monster. This card gains 200 ATK & DEF for each of your Banished WATER monsters. If this Fusion Summoned card destroys an opponent's monster in battle, inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's Level x 200. When this card is destroyed, Banish it.

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

 _Caspian: Well, that went better than expected..._

 _Join us next time, as we're introduced to another River City Shadowchaser, in a chapter I like to call_ Hero of the East!


	2. Hero of The East

(A/N: Sorry it took so long, I've been dealing with some personal issues.)

 _Loyalty. Frugality. Mastery of martial arts. Honor._

 _These are the principles of the Bushido code. The word literally translates to "the way (or morals) of the warrior", and can be seen as the Japanese version of chivalry. Bushido was the code samurai lived their life by, dating all the way back to the Edo period._

 _Growing up, my father's most prized possession was a suit of samurai armor, a family heirloom that was once worn by our earliest recorded ancestor. It was surprisingly in tact for something that saw who knows how many battles, ignoring the bloodstains, that is._

 _Samurai fascinated me as a child. So, naturally, when I was old enough to join the family business, I decided to try and adopt their way of life._

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 02 - Hero of the East**

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

It was the middle of the day in River City. People were crowding in the streets, heading to and from their jobs and daily activities. From a bird's eye view, it looked like a giant ant farm. And that was exactly the view Kim had. She looked out the glass elevator, wondering just how long it would take to get to the 13th floor.

If you ask the average person, they'll tell you that the Carlyle Hotel, like most, didn't have a 13th floor. But if you were an Aware or a Shadowkind, when you stepped into the elevator, you'd find a button that would take you to a special floor occupied entirely by others like yourself.

Stepping out of the elevator, Kim immediately noticed a large banner with Japanese writing. "Annual tengu convention. Children always welcome." She read, confirming that she was in the right place. "They never learn." She sighed, shaking her head.

The conference hall was filled with people, and decorated for a party. There were tables covered in traditional Japanese food, banners with kanji writing, and a band playing old music. To the average eye, the party-goers looked just like normal Japanese humans, albeit in somewhat outdated clothing. But Kim could see their true nature. They were tengu, crow-like humanoids with sharp beaks and large black wings. In ancient times, they lived on top of mountains in Japan, and were known to carry off naughty children. But that practice died out centuries ago... Supposedly.

"Who's in charge here?" Kim asked the first tengu she could get a hold of, a young man in metrosexual clothes. The avian yokai squirmed and tried to fly off, but she held onto his shirt. "I _really_ don't want to use my sword today." The Shadowchaser tapped the katana strapped to her side, which she rarely ever had to unsheathe. While all Shadowchasers were taught various methods of self-defense and swordplay, few Shadowkind challenged them to a traditional fight.

"Carlyle is backstage! He's got what you're looking for!" The tengu confessed, flapping his wings wildly. Kim let him go, keeping a hand on her sword, just in case. Yokai were particularly stubborn Shadowkind, often stuck in the old ways. That didn't help their relationship with the law, of course. The Japanese Shadowchasers often had to deal with the Four Houses of Yokai, a troublesome Shadowkind version of the yakuza.

There weren't any guards, surprisingly. Just a pair of metal doors, one marked with a star and the name "Carlyle". In ancient times, tengu would name themselves after the mountains they lived on. Kim guessed that Carlyle was the chief tengu, using that reasoning. She simply knocked on the door, and it immediately opened. "That... was surprisingly simple." She sighed, pinching the bride of her nose.

"Akane, if that's you, I told you to-" The first thing Kim saw when she stepped into the room was a middle aged tengu man sitting in a wooden chair. He was doing his own make-up, and clearly wearing too much of it. "You're not Akane..." He stared at Kim like she was a wild animal that had just wandered into his hotel. "Miss Shadowchaser, what are you doing here? There's nothing going on!"

Kim turned her head and saw an enormous square shape underneath a blanket. "That's _cartoonishly_ suspicious." She grabbed the tarp and yanked it off, revealing the shape to be a cage full of sleeping children. " _What in the nine hells?_ " There were a dozen children in the cage, and only a handful of them were human.

"I can explain." Carlyle said, fumbling for his cellphone behind his back. Kim drew her sword and pointed it directly at his beak. He gulped and dropped the phone, holding his hands up. "It's a naughty children contest. We hold one every year. All the tengu in town grab the most ill-behaved child they can find, and I give a prize to the one who found the worst. Then we drop them off in the park, with their memories wiped. It's harmless."

"I should just arrest you right now, but I'm going to give you ten seconds to convince me not to use this thing." The Shadowchaser poked the yokai with her blade, giving him an enraged glare. Carlyle quickly pulled open a drawer and slapped on a Duel Disk, activating it. Kim sighed and put away her katana, taking a few steps back. "The Fair Fight Clause really needs some amendments..."

 **(CLP 8000) - (KLP 8000)**

"Age before beauty, Shadowchaser." The tengu drew his opening hand, and played a single card. "I summon Superheavy Samurai Kabuto in attack mode!" The monster that appeared was, like the named implied, a robot samurai. It wore brown and rust-red armor, and carried a gigantic hammer. (1000 ATK)

"Doesn't look so super to me..." Kim had never seen this card before, but already didn't trust it. Carlyle made a gesture that indicated he ended his turn. The Shadowchaser stared at him, confused, for a minute, but drew her sixth card. "Okay..."

"I activate the Field Spell, Temple of the Six!" She played the card and their settings began to change. The dressing room faded away, replaced by the courtyard of an old fashioned Japanese palace. "Every time I summon a Six Samurai monster, it gains a Bushido Counter, and all your monsters lose 100 attack points for each one. To demonstrate, I'm summoning Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki!" Her monster simply strolled onto the field, seemingly stepping out of the palace. It was a Japanese man in bulky samurai armor, with two large mechanical arms on his back. He held a sword in each hand. (200 ATK)

A light lit up in the sky above the two duelists. Carlyle looked closely and saw that there were strings of paper lanterns stretching across the field. "When I do that, I get to call out another low level samurai from my hand. Like Mizuho!" Another samurai leaped into action. This one wore bright red armor and carried two sickle-like swords. The long, violet ponytail indicated she was female. (1600 ATK).

"You've triggered Kabuto's effect!" Carlyle said, pointing at his monster. The robotic warrior assumed a defensive stance and struck the ground with its mallet. (2500 DEF) "When you Special Summon a monster, he switches to defense mode and gains 500 defense points! Try getting past that."

"Easy. Mizuho can tribute another samurai to destroy any card on the field. So there goes your only defense." Kageki turned into a bright green orb, and flew towards Kabuto, causing it to explode. "Attack him directly!" Mizuho ran towards the tengu and slashed at him with her swords, causing him to grunt and pushing him back a few feet.

"If I take battle damage while I have only monsters in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Prepped Defense!" A new robot appeared on the field. It was bright green, with golden highlights, and thick legs that resembled baggy pants. (2100 DEF)

Kim studied her opponent's field closely, wishing she had taken the time to read up on all the new archetypes that had been released. "I set this card and end my turn."

 **(CLP 6400) - (KLP 8000)**

"It's my turn!" Carlyle drew his fifth card. "I summon Superheavy Samurai Cavalry!" A robotic samurai riding a robotic horse strolled onto the field, drawing its sword. (1000 ATK). "And since I have no Spells or Traps in my Graveyard, I can change him to defense position, and Special Summon a low level Superheavy Samurai from my hand, also in defense mode!"

Cavalry sheathed its sword, gripping the reigns of its horse. (2000 DEF). Another robot appeared on the field, this one dressed like a traditional Japanese merchant. "Superheavy Samurai Merchant won't be staying for long, though, because if I tribute him, I can draw two cards!" It immediately vanished, and Carlyle picked up the top cards of his deck, and seemed to smile. It was hard to read expressions on someone with a beak.

"I activate the effect of Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker!" He placed a card in his Spell zone, much to Kim's surprise. A bulky piece of body armor with two pairs of large, mechanical arms descended onto the field, attaching itself to Prepped Defense. "It can equip to another Samurai on my field, and prevents you from attacking any other monster! That ends my turn."

Kim drew a third card, and played it immediately. "I summon Shaman of the Six Samurai!" A little old lady appeared on the field, dressed in the clothes of an itako (a blind Japanese wise woman). (ATK 1000). "I'll pay 500 life points to activate her ability, reviving a level three or lower samurai from my graveyard!" Kageki returned to the field, looking angry.

"Now I'll tune them together!" Three bright rings of light surrounded the samurai and the wise woman, who turned into six glowing stars. " _Silk and steel combined into one! Meet the diva of my deck, as deadly as she is beautiful!_ Synchro Summon!" The monster that appeared was best described as beautiful. A Japanese woman with flowing ebony hair, wearing a scarlet kimono underneath samurai armor. She carried a naginata in her hands, and a look of righteousness on her face. (2500 ATK)

"Meet my favorite monster, Lady of the Six Samurai." Kim said proudly, as several more lanterns lit up. "Now attack his Prepped Defense!" Lady lowered her spear and charged forwards, impaling the green android. It shattered into pixels, along with Soulpeacemaker. "And thanks to her effect, you still take damage!"

"I'll end my turn with that."

 **(CLP 6000) - (KLP 7500)**

"Alright, time to get serious!" Carlyle drew and immediately played a card. "I summon Giant Rat!" The monster in question needed no description. When it appeared, however, the lanterns attached to the Temple began glowing brighter. (ATK 1400 - 900) "His attack points don't matter, because he won't be around for long!" Giant Rat attacked Mizuho, and was sliced to pieces.

"Wha... Why the hell did you do that?" Kim got her answer when the rodent's effect activated. The summoning portal opened, and out came the biggest robot yet. It was around nine feet tall, with a barrel shaped body, mostly black and white, but with orange highlights. Its weapon seemed to be a combination of a spear and a tuning fork. (3500 DEF)

"Because Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei only has 1000 attack points, but when he's summoned, I can immediately change his battle position." Carlyle explained, glaring at the Shadowchaser. "He has another effect as well. All Superheavy Samurai monsters can attack while in defense mode, and apply their defense points for damage!" As if to demonstrate, the massive android struck the ground with its staff, causing an earthquake that shattered Mizuho.

Kim stared in disbelief; she'd never seen an effect like this. It was like Total Defense Shogun on steroids!

"Since I can't summon any more monsters, I'll end my turn." Carlyle said, smirking... At least, it looked like he was smirking. It was hard to read facial expressions on someone who had a beak.

"I draw..." Kim drew a third card, looking over her hand. _Alright, what can I use? He's got 3500 defense points... Maybe I should try to stall until I draw Shield Crush._

"I active Spellbook Inside The Pot!" The Pot of Greed appeared on the field, and three large tomes flew out of it. "This means we both draw 3 cards!" Both duelists were happy to do so. Kim looked at her new cards and concentrated. _Okay, here goes... something._

"I activate The Warrior Returning Alive to get Kageki back from my Graveyard." She grabbed the card as soon as it slid out of her Duel Disk. "And now I summon him again!" The familiar robotic armored warrior returned, glaring angrily at Carlyle. "And with his effect, I can summon The Six Samurai - Zanji!" A samurai in orange, cybernetic armor leaped onto the field, swinging his spear (1800 ATK).

"I know all about his effect!" Carlyle interrupted. "Even if you do destroy my Big Benkei, you'll still lose almost 2000 life points."

"I have a better plan." Kim replied, as the swirling background of Polymerization shone behind her. "By sending Zanji, Kageki, and Lady to the graveyard, I can fusion summon Shadow Six Samurai - Rihan!" As the three samurai vanished, a brand new monster appeared in their place. This one wore similar armor to the others, but it was neon green in color. He carried a sword in one hand, while the other was equipped with three large claws. (2400 ATK)

"Sorry I didn't have a chant prepared, this is my first time summoning him." Kim turned around a card in her hand, Cunning of the Six Samurai. "But his effect is what's important. By banishing another Six Samurai card from my hand or field, like this one, I can banish any other card on the field!" Rihan lifted his claws and ran forward, slashing at Big Benkei. The machine grunted as three glowing gashes appeared in its body, before it vanished entirely.

"Now, attack his Cavalry!" Switching hands, Rihan pulled out his sword and swiped at the remaining monster, destroying it. "Next, I'll set one card. That's all for my turn." Kim said, standing confidently again.

 **(CLP 5300) - (KLP 5600)**

"You're a feisty young thing. I like that in a girl." The tengu chuckled. Kim grimaced, the implications making her sick. "Oh, _not like that_!" He sighed.

Carlyle drew a card, bringing his total up to 7. "Because there are no spell or trap cards in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon the tuner monster Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter from my hand!" A tiny robot appeared before him, carrying a trumpet that was almost as big as it was. (300 ATK)

"Now for my normal summon. Meet Superheavy Samurai Scales!" This robot was dressed in green, and carried an enormous metal scale on its back. "His effect allows me to revive another Superheavy monster, as long as it's below level 5!" Scales tipped its, well, scales, and opened a portal on the floor. Kabuto rose out of it, just as stoic as before.

"But they won't be staying for long, because I'm tuning them all together!" Trumpeter transformed into a pair of glowing rings, which surrounded the other robots. " _Raging deity, in unison with the roar of a thousand blades, come forth in a spiraling sandstorm!_ " A new mechanical warrior landed on the field, making the room shake. It was enormous, even bigger than Benkei! It looked like, well, a warlord, silver and gold, crouching and holding a large naginata. (3800 DEF)

"I Synchro Summon Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo!" Kim took a step back, intimidated. "But I'm not done! Because I have no Spell or Trap cards in my Graveyard, I can activate one from yours!" Susanowo slammed his spear onto the ground, and the Pot of Greed appeared. Kim's Duel Disk lit up with a message "Draw 3".

Both players drew, Kim practically holding her breath, hoping for something good. "Now I can outfit my demigod with a new weapon! Like Superheavy Samurai Soulhorns!" Susanowo's armor changed to bright white, with an enormous pair of horns growing out of its shoulders. "Like Peacemaker before it, Horns grants my monster a new effect. In this case, it gets to attack twice! Go, Swinging Sword Slash!"

The robotic warrior sliced through Rihan with its massive spear, making him explode into pixels. Kim grunted as her life points fell, the force of the impact pushing her back a few feet. "Now attack directly!"

"I activate Reanimation Wave! This cuts the damage from your attack in half, and lets me revive a Synchro Monster from my graveyard, as long as its not the same level as yours!" A shield of energy surrounded the Shadowchaser, protecting her from the second blast. "So I'm bringing back Lady of the Six Samurai!" The female warrior stepped onto the field once again, looking furious.

"I end my turn." Carlyle said, with a huff.

 **(CLP 5300) - (KLP 2300)**

"My turn! Draw!" Kim drew another card, not even bothering to look at it. She had exactly what she needed. "I summon Kagemusha of the Six Samurai!" A new warrior wearing green clothes and plain armor stepped out of the temple, standing next to the Shadowchaser. (800 ATK)

"And now I can Special Summon the Grandmaster!" A tall, muscular old man with long, silver hair, dressed in sleek black armor strolled onto the field, a wise, almost grandfatherly expression on his face. (2100 ATK)

"But I'm not nearly done! Because I have three Six Samurai on the field, I can activate the card you let me draw last turn, Six Strike - Triple Impact!" The three monsters placed their weapons together and raised them, causing a flash of green light to wash over the field. Susanowo burst into pixels, along with its armor. "This spell lets me destroy all face-up monsters you control!"

Carlyle lost his balance and fell from the shock, missing his chair and landing on the floor. "I tune Kagemusha with Lady to Synchro Summon my Colossal Fighter!" The two eastern warriors vanished, replaced by one with a much more western feel. (2800 ATK)

"And he gains 100 ATK for each Warrior in either graveyard. So that's just enough to finish this duel!" Kim said, as Fighter's score rose to 3400. Grandmaster and Fighter charged forward, landing simultaneous punches on the tengu's face, making him glad it was only phantom pain.

"You're under arrest, you old creep." Kim walked over to Carlyle as the duel holograms faded, pulling a small blue crystal out of her skirt pocket. "I doubt you'll be hosting anymore parties after your friends out there learn what happened to you." He simply groaned as he vanished.

"Well, fixing this is going to be a handful..." The Shadowchaser looked at the still sleeping children, taking out her phone to see if her teammates could lend a hand.

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

Anime/Manga Cards-

Spellbook Inside The Pot: *three books flying out of the Pot of Greed*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Both players draw 3 cards.

First Appearance: GX manga, chapter 33

 **0-0-0**

Original Cards-

Lady of the Six Samurai: *elegant warrior woman wearing samurai armor over a kimono and wielding a naginata*

Card Type- Synchro Monster

Monster Type- Warrior

Attribute- EARTH

Level- 6

ATK/DEF- 2500/2000

Text- 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Warrior-Type monsters. This card inflicts piercing damage. While you control 2 or more face-up "Six Samurai" monsters with different names, negate the effects of any monster this card destroys in battle.

 **0-0-0**

Shaman of the Six Samurai: *old woman in traditional Japanese shaman robes*

Card Type- Tuner Monster

Monster Type- Spellcaster

Level- 3

Attribute- LIGHT

ATK/DEF- 1000/1500

Text- Cannot be used for a Synchro Summon, except for the Synchro Summon of a Warrior-Type Synchro Monster. Once per turn, you can pay 500 Life Points to Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower "Six Samurai" or "Shien" monster from your Graveyard face-up.

 **0-0-0**

Superheavy Samurai Merchant: *robotic warrior dressed like a traditional japanese merchant*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Machine

Attribute- EARTH

Level- 2

ATK/DEF- 500/1500

Text- If you have no Spell or Trap Cards in your Graveyard when this card is Special Summoned, you can Tribute this card, then draw 2 cards.

 **0-0-0**

Superheavy Samurai Cavalry: *robotic samurai riding on a mechanical horse*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Machine

Attribute- EARTH

Level- 4

ATK/DEF- 1000/2000

Text- When this card is Normal Summoned, if you have no Spell or Trap Cards in your Graveyard, you can switch this card to face-up Defense Position, then Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Superheavy Samurai" monster from your hand in face-up Defense Position.

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

 _Kim: Where are you guys?!_

 _?: I'm doing the best I can!_

 _Join us next time, in Double Snare!_


	3. Double Snare

(Sorry this took so long, my laptop broke and I lost all my notes. I promise chapter 4 will be out soon. I'm also looking for some writing tips to make this story more exciting. So there's that. Enjoy!)

 _Can you keep a secret?_

 _I've kept one for most of my life. As an Aware in a family of Mundanes, I couldn't just tell them I saw monsters walking around._

 _I thought I was the only one, until a girl with a sword saved me from being eaten by a fish person._ That _was a memorable birthday._

 _Living a secret life isn't a problem most Shadowchasers have to deal with, but because my family lives in River City, I've got to try hard to keep up the act._

 _And boy, is that hard sometimes._

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 03 - Double Snare**

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

It wasn't often that the River City Shadowchasers had to send out two of their members at once. Of course, they only had four to begin with, but still. Today's case was a big one. Tyler and Sabrina were riding their Duel Runners straight to Nile Street in the downtown area, which was populated mostly by Shadowkind and Awares, for reasons no one was sure of.

"So, what is it this time? Sahuagin? Religious nutballs? _Tentacle monsters_?" Tyler asked, hoping to handle something huge. "As long as it's not werewolves, I'm so sick of those guys. They all use the same deck!"

Sabrina rolled her eyes, wishing she had been sent in alone. "Some crazy wizard. He's doing something in the abandoned shoe factory, probably trying to summon a demon or eldritch abomination." She noticed birds flying erratically, a sure sign that they were going in the right direction.

The two Shadowchasers pulled up in front of the rundown old building, seeing flashing multi-colored lights coming from inside. There were no zombies, imps or minions of any kind outside, indicating that whoever was inside was either extremely dangerous, or very overconfident. Eager to get started, the Colombian youth kicked down the door and charged in.

"Shadowchasers, you're under arrest!" Tyler pointed dramatically at the perpetrator, an older man wearing rather outdated clothes and a floppy hat. It was obvious that he was a wizard, and not just because he was standing in front of a glowing portal.

The man had a companion, a woman, who presumably had just come out of said portal. She was very tall and lanky, with near floor-length blue hair, and large glasses. She carried a huge, old-fashioned rifle, and wore, of all things, a swastika necklace. The sight of it made Tyler blink, wondering just what kind of demon this was. Sabrina, on the other hand, recognized her immediately.

"Is that Rip Van Winkle?" She asked, more confused than anything. "You went through all this trouble... to summon an anime character?"

The wizard put up his hands, the portal closing behind him. "My name is Ichabod, thank you for asking. And yes, I brought Lieutenant Van Winkle into our world. I required her services... And now she'll get to demonstrate them." He explained, before spinning around and running out of the room.

"Coward!" Tyler shouted, chasing after the fleeing perp. "Ugh, what a creep. He opens up an illegal summoning portal just to meet his waifu! Caspian will be laughing about this for a week!" He activated his Duel Disk, hoping to at least get an exciting duel out of this.

The Hispanic Shadowchaser caught up to the old wizard rather quickly, finding him out of breath. "Fair Fight Clause!" Ichabod shouted, a Disk of his own appearing on his arm in a flash. It was one of the newest models, with a sword-shaped blade, instead of the standard rectangular one.

 **(Ichabod LP 8000) - (Tyler LP 8000)**

"I'll take the first move." Ichabod said, looking over his opening hand. "I set a monster and one additional card." The cards appeared before him in a T-formation. "That ends my turn."

Tyler drew a card and grinned. "Alright, you're about to see why you don't mess with the River City Shadowchasers!" He played a card right away, a continuous spell appearing before him. "With Herculean Power, since I have no monsters, I can special summon a Gemini monster from my hand! Like my Ancient Gear Knight!" A tall, rusted robot leaped onto the field. It carried a lance in one hand and a gear-shaped shield in the other. (1800 ATK)

"Now for my normal summon. Energy Bravery!" A new monster appeared in a flash of lightning. It was a golden skinned, muscular humanoid with red hair and two large horns. (1700 ATK) "Now that I've got two powerhouses on the field, it's time to attack!"

Ancient Gear Knight charged and impaled the set monster with its lance, revealing it to be an adorable cat-like creature. "When Dandylion is destroyed, I get to summon two Fluff Tokens to take its place!" Ichabod explained, as a pair of dandelion seeds with large, anime eyes blew onto the field. (DEF 0 x2)

Energy Bravery fried one of the tokens with a blast of lightning. "I'll set a card and end my turn." Tyler said, a little disappointed. He wondered what Ichabod was planning. Mages that didn't use Spellcaster decks usually had some kind of crazy trick up their sleeves.

"I activate White Elephant's Gift!" Ichabod played the card as soon as he drew it. "By tributing my token, I can draw 2 more cards! And I think I'll use them right away!" His set card lifted up, revealing itself as a trap. Three glowing green balls of energy flew over to Tyler's side of the field, quickly changing into skinny, black fiends with long white hair. (2000 ATK x3) "Nightmare Archfiends summons three Nightmare Archfiend Tokens to your side of the field! But they won't be staying there for long."

"Owner's Seal returns your new monsters to my control." The fiends laughed in unison, an unnerving high-pitched sound, and teleported to Ichabod's field. "Next, I'll summon Sir Fleece!" The new monster was... not what Tyler expected. A small, adorable sheep with curled horns, standing on two legs and wearing plate armor. (1000 ATK) "He may look cute, but he gains 500 attack points for each token on the field!" The little ram was surrounded by an aura of red energy, multiplying in height as its score skyrocketed (2500 ATK)

Tyler grimaced, not looking forward to the upcoming onslaught. The first token brandished its claws and tore through Ancient Gear Knight, shattering it. The second slashed Energy Bravery to ribbons. Sir Fleece charged forward, and that's when the Shadowchaser took action. "I'm activating Nutrient Z! This handy dandy little trap boosts my life points by 4000 before you damage them!" The tiny knight jabbed Tyler with its sword, but the damage was much less effective.

Ichabod grumbled and had the final token attack before looking at his remaining cards. "That's it for my turn."

 **(ILP 8000) - (TLP 7000)**

"I draw." Tyler looked over his hand, trying to form a strategy. _Where's Catalyst Field when you need it?_ "I activate Akashic Record! This lets me draw two cards, but I have to show them to you, and if either of them has already been used, they get removed from play." He picked up his next two cards and revealed them. "Just what I needed!"

"I use Herculean Power's effect to special summon Goggle Golem." The new Gemini looked nothing like the previous ones. It was a bulky rock monster wearing leather pants and gloves, with spiked metal bracelets and a matching belt. True to its name, it had on a pair of goggles. (1500 ATK)

"Next, I Gemini Summon him, which boosts his attack to 2100." Goggle Golem flexed its stone muscles, striking a classic strong man pose. "Now he'll put those points to good use. Crush that Archfiend Token!" The rock simply punched its opponent square in the jaw, making it burst like a balloon. Ichabod grunted as the secondary effect of his trap activated.

"And with one less token on the field, your little goat loses 500 attack points!" Sir Fleece's score dropped to 2000, and it shrank considerably. "I'll set this card and end my turn." Tyler nodded confidently.

Ichabod drew his fifth card, looking pleased. "I activate One Time Passcode, which gives me a free Security Token in defense mode." The Security Token looked very similar to a regular Sheep Token, only its fur was pitch black, and its horns seemed to shimmer with neon energy. (2000 DEF)

"That gives Sir Fleece just enough strength to destroy your Golem!" The little knight's attack points went back up to 2500, and it charged, waving its sword in the air.

Tyler smiled and activated his trap card, revealing it to be Gemini Booster. Goggle Golem rose to 2800 attack, and caught the sword in its hand, punting Sir Fleece across the field.

Ichabod groaned and switched his remaining monsters to defense mode, grumbling about falling for an obvious trap. "Your move."

 **(ILP 6800) - (TLP 7000)**

Tyler drew, then looked over his hand. "I'm playing a monster face-down." A horizontal card appeared next to Goggle Golem. "Then I'll move straight to the battle phase!" The Gemini monster punched the second Nightmare Archfiend token, shattering it. Ichabod grunted slightly, but otherwise seemed unaffected.

Tyler nodded, signifying the end of his turn. _Still haven't drawn it, but this guy's still not putting up a real fight._

Ichabod drew a card, and his entire expression changed. "Finally, this game is about to come to a close." He said, grinning. "I activate Token Sundae! By destroying my two tokens, I get to destroy two of your cards as well." The last remaining Archfiend token shattered, along with the cyber sheep. The wizard cringed as he took damage from his card's effect, but his wide grin returned as Goggle Golem and Herculean Power vanished, taking Gemini Booster with them.

"Now, I'll set a monster and another card face-down to end my turn."

"That's kind of anti-climatic, isn't it?" Tyler raised an eyebrow, drawing his third card. "Eh, no skin off my back. It's time to bring out the big guns!" He quickly replaced the monster on his field with one from his hand. "I tribute my Featherizer to summon Chthonian Emperor Dragon!" The set card burst into flames, giving way to an enormous, serpentine dragon covered in bony armor. (2400 ATK)

"Attack his face-down monster! Gemini Fire!" The dragon spewed flames at the enemy, revealing it to be a tiny, adorable lamb. (0 DEF)

"When Merry Little Lamb is destroyed, I can pay 600 Life Points to special summon as many Sheep Tokens as possible in defense mode!" Ichabod explained. Five fluffy sheep appeared on his field, each a different color. Tyler ended his turn, wondering what was coming next.

 **(ILP 4600) - (TLP 7000)**

Ichabod drew another card, and played it straight away. "Spellbook Inside The Pot allows us both to draw 3 times!" Both duelists did just that, but the wizard was far from finished with his turn. "I tribute my five tokens to summon the crown jewel of my deck! Sheeptar the Sheep King!" The Sheep Tokens changed into golden dust, which swirled together and formed into a new monster. It was... a ram. Albeit, one standing on its hind legs, and wearing a golden crown. (2000 ATK)

Tyler burst out laughing at the sight of the royal monster. "Another sheep? Dude, what is your obsession?" He almost tripped over his own two feet, he was laughing so hard. "That thing's about as threatening as a My Little Pony! Is it your fursona or something?"

"I wasn't finished." Ichabod interrupted, huffing. "Sheeptar's effect depends on how many Sheep Tokens I tribute to summon him. With 2, he becomes immune to targeting effects. But, more importantly, because I tributed 5, he gains 1000 attack points." The sheep king became surrounded by a sinister red aura, growing larger and more feral. (3000 ATK)

The Shadowchaser stood up straight, not finding this funny anymore. "Next, I activate Fiend's Sanctuary! This grants me a Metal Fiend Token, but I'm sure you already knew that." The small, ball-jointed monster made famous by the King of Games himself rose slowly onto the field. "But it won't stay around for long! If I tribute it, Sheeptar can destroy your dragon!" The royal beast lifted the Token and tossed it at Chthonian Emperor Dragon, causing them both to explode.

"That's not good." Tyler gulped, as Sheeptar charged. He was knocked over, landing on his rear. "Ugh..."

Ichabod smirked, then nodded, signifying the end of his turn. "Your move, Shadowchaser. Make it count, because you won't have many left."

Tyler groaned as he pulled himself up, drawing a card. He smiled when he saw it, sliding it into his Duel Disk. "How about this? I activate Catalyst Field!" The room became surrounded by strange lights, as if they were in outer space. "Next, I'm playing Dark Factory of Mass Production! This lets me add 2 normal monsters from my Graveyard to my hand, and you'll find out which ones!" The cards slid out of his discard slot, and he picked them up quickly.

"I summon Blazewing Butterfly!" The new monster was, well, a butterfly with wings made of fire. (1500 ATK). "My field spell lets me normal summon twice per turn, as long as I use one of those to summon a Gemini monster! So welcome back, Goggle Golem!" The rock monster reappeared, flexing its muscles once more.

"And what are you going to do with those?" The wizard scoffed. "Overlay them!" Tyler replied, as the swirling vortex that was the Overlay Network appeared on the field. "With two level 4 Geminis, I can summon my Brazen Dragon!" The two monsters vanished, replaced by something brand new. It was a dragon, but not of the traditional design. It had two enormous wings, and no arms, a tail as long as its wingspan, and two small legs. A pair of glowing orbs revolved around it. (2200 ATK)

"Once per turn, I can toss an overlay unit to revive one of my Gemini monsters, and it gains its effects." Tyler explained, discarding Goggle Golem's card, and then immediately bringing it back. "Next, I'm activating Catalyst Field's second effect. By banishing a Gemini monster that's been Gemini summoned, I can destroy one of your cards! So say goodbye to your weird furry thing!"

Goggle Golem began to glow with an aura that matched the field spell's, and leaped onto Sheeptar the Sheep King, causing them both to shatter into pixels. "You beat my best monster... with a glorified Giant Soldier of Stone?!" Ichabod moaned, his jaw hanging open in disbelief.

"Brazen Dragon, attack him directly!" The Xyz Monster opened its mouth and fired a blast of golden energy, knocking Ichabod over.

"And I'm not done! I activate Rival Arrival! This lets me Normal Summon during the battle phase, and thanks to Catalyst Field, I don't need to tribute anything to summon Chthonian Emperor Dragon!" The serpentine dragon slithered onto the battle field, and unleashed its Gemini Fire attack once more.

 **(ILP 0) - (TLP 4000)**

"Alright!" Tyler cheered, pulling out his crystal and capturing the eccentric wizard. "Guess I better go find Sabrina." The Hispanic Shadowchaser turned around, trying to remember how he had gotten where he was. "We went left here and then..."

He managed to find his teammate, but the situation was less than ideal. She was dueling, and had, much to Tyler's surprise, multiple guns pointed directly at her.

"What the-?"

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **What's happening to Sabrina?**

 **What are there guns in a yugioh fanfic?**

 **Find out next time, in Icarus Attack!**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

Anime cards:

Akashic Record: *a glowing dinosaur skeleton*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Draw 2 cards and reveal them. If either of those cards has already been used in this Duel, Banish both of them.

First used: GX anime, "The Ultimate Face Off Part 2"

 **0-0-0**

Cards I invented:

Brazen Dragon: *bronze colored dragon with a long tail, huge wings, and two small legs*

Card Type- Xyz Monster

Monster Type- Dragon

Level- Rank 4

Attribute- FIRE

ATK/DEF- 2200/1800

Text- 2 Level 4 Gemini monsters. Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then select 1 Gemini monster in your Graveyard and Special Summon it. The Special Summoned Gemini monster is treated as an Effect Monster, and gains its effect. If this card is destroyed by an opponent's card and sent to the Graveyard, you can add 1 Gemini monster from your Deck to your hand.

 **0**

Sir Fleece: *anthro sheep wearing armor and wielding a shield and sword*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Beast

Attribute- LIGHT

Level- 3

ATK/DEF- 1000/1500

Text- This card gains 500 ATK for every Token on the field.

 **0**

Merry Little Lamb: *small, fluffy white lamb*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Beast

Attribute- EARTH

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 0/0

Text- If this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can pay 600 Life Points, then Special Summon any number of "Sheep Tokens" (Beast-Type/EARTH/LV 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position. "Sheep Tokens" cannot be Tributed for a Tribute Summon the turn they are Summoned.

 **0**

Sheeptar the Sheep King: *large, humanoid ram with curled horns, wearing a golden crown*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Beast

Level- 7

Attribute- EARTH

ATK/DEF- 2000/2000

Text- You can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing any number of "Sheep Tokens" you control. This card gains the following effects, based on the number of Tributes:

::2: This card cannot be Banished by your opponent's card effects.

::4: Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can Tribute 1 Token you control to destroy 1 face-up card on the field.

::5: This card gains 1000 ATK.


	4. Icarus Attack

(A/N: Please forgive my attempt at writing a German accent. Also, please punch any nazis you meet.)

 _I've always wanted to fly._

 _I think it started when my parents took me bird watching as a little girl. There was just something about the way those birds moved, and the beauty of their feathers, it seemed so majestic._

 _Growing up, I realized that humans can't fly. At least, not without a ton of machinery. But I never stopped dreaming._

 _That's why I chose to use the deck I did. It reminds me of my dreams._

 _I just hope those dreams are strong enough to win this duel_

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 04 - Icarus Attack**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

Sabrina had fought creatures from the depths of Hell, possessed cars, elemental beings, Duel Spirits, and even a few fairies. But now she was facing something she never thought she'd have to fight: An anime character.

Specifically, Rip Van Winkle from Hellsing. A nazi vampire, of all things, with a magic gun. She wasn't even sure if Rip was covered by The Treaty. So there was a good amount of awkward silence when Tyler and Ichabod ran out of the room.

"Ahem." Rip spoke up, breaking the silence. "I vas brought here to kill you und your teammates. Normally, I vould have shot you right avay, but I vas told zat you settled things differently in zis dimension." She spun her musket around, somehow transforming it into a duel disk. "If you vin, I go. Und if _I_ vin, you die. Verstehen?"

Sabrina blinked and nodded her head, snapping herself out of her confusion. "Guess I can't disagree with those terms." She activated her disk, thinking to herself _I wonder if this will make the weekly newsletter._

 **(Rip LP 8000) - (Sabrina LP 8000)**

"Do you like opera, Mädchen?" Rip asked, drawing a card. "Because I love it! Especially my favorite, Der Freischütz!" She played a card, summoning a rather odd looking monster. It seemed to be a human, with wild blonde hair, carrying an elaborate handgun. But one of his arms had blue skin and demonic claws, as well as what looked like a glowing red wing sprouting out of it. (1200 ATK)

"Zis is Magical Musketeer Caspar, my favorite monster." The vampire explained. "Caspar's story is one I identify with heavily. He sells his soul to ze devil in exchange for seven magic bullets zat will never miss. But ze seventh one is controlled by Zamiel himself." She smiled and rested her head on one hand, as if she was recalling a fond memory. Sabrina backed up slightly when she saw how sharp Rip's teeth were.

"I know, I've seen your show. Marathoned it in one night with my girlfriends." Sabrina recalled, shivering when she remembered Rip's brutal demise. "Weren't you impaled? With a musket? ... How does that even work?"

"Not important." Rip snapped her fingers, sliding another card into her disk. "I activate Ties of The Brethren! At ze cost of 2000 life points, and my Battle Phase zis turn, I can special summon 2 monsters from my deck with ze same Type, Attribute and Level as Caspar!" The gunman lifted his weapon in the air and fired two shots. Two summoning portals opened up next to him, and out stepped a pair of even stranger looking monsters.

"I summon Magical Musketeers Doc und Kidbrave!" The first was a man dressed in a white coat and long cape, carrying a sniper rifle of all things. (1400 ATK) The second was a cowboy with a pistol. (1600 ATK) They both had the same fiendish clawed arm as Caspar.

"Next, because I activated a spell card in the same column as Caspar, I can add a Magical Musket card from meine deck to my hand." A card shot out of her disk and she turned it around briefly, allowing Sabrina the see the image. It depicted Doc gazing through the telescope of his rifle. Sabrina didn't have enough time to read the text, however.

"And I'm not finished. I activate Kidbrave's effect! By discarding a Magical Musket card from my hand, I can draw two cards." The cowboy fired his gun into the air, as Rip slid a card into the discard slot and drew two more. "Now, I set one card and end my turn."

"By the way, just what are these Musketeers of yours?" Sabrina asked. "Warriors? Spellcasters?"

"Light Attribute Fiends." Rip replied. Sabrina stared in confusing for a second, failing to see either of those qualities in her opponent's monsters.

"That's almost as confusing as Doll Parts being Spellcasters..." Sabrina sighed.

She drew a card and began formulating a strategy. "I summon my Harpie Channeler!" A new monster soared into the room, resembling the Harpie Lady, but with raven wings and an elaborate hairstyle. She smirked and bared her talons. (1400 ATK)

"I'll use her effect to discard a Harpie card to special summon a Harpie from my deck! So meet Cyber Harpie Lady!" Channeler waved her magic staff and opened a portal, out of which flew the classic card made famous by Mai Kujaku. (1800 ATK)

Rip giggled. "What are you going to do, punish me~?" Sabrina just groaned and rolled her eyes, having been fed up with dominatrix jokes since she started playing Harpies. She pointed, and Cyber Harpie Lady lashed her whip, destroying Kidbrave. Rip stopped laughing and furrowed her brows, scowling.

"Channeler, attack Caspar!" The winged sorceress raised her staff and conjured a storm, sending it after Rip's monster. "I'm afraid I can't allow zat!" The nazi played a card quickly, surrounding Caspar with a white aura. "Magical Musket - Steady Hands doubles my monster's attack points until ze turn ends!" Caspar's score shot up to 2400, and he fired a single bullet, which pierced the storm cloud and hit Harpie Channeler, shattering her.

Sabrina frowned and looked over her remaining cards. "I'll set this and end my turn." She said, before a melody began playing from seemingly nowhere. "Which activates the effect of Harpie Harpist in my graveyard. Because she was sent there this turn, I can add a weak Winged Beast monster from my deck to my hand." She looked over the appropriate cards and selected one, then shuffled. "Now you can go."

 **(RLP 5800) - (SLP 7000)**

Rip van Winkle looked over her hand and gave another sharp toothed smile. "So, you like wind monsters, Mädchen?" She played a spell, the holy ankh of Monster Reborn glowing in the air. Kidbrave rose up, only to quickly disappear. "I tribute summon Fantastic Striborg!" The new monster was not at all what Sabrina would have expected. A robotic warrior that seemed to have been made out of an office fan. It seemed very out of place. (2200 ATK)

"What is that, a rejected Morphtronic?" Sabrina scoffed, before thinking it over. "Wait... Fantastic. _Fan_ tastic... Oh good lord." She sighed and smacked her forehead with her palm. She hated puns, an attitude that Industrial Illusions definitely did not share.

"Oh, shut up." Rip rolled her eyes. "First, when a monster is tributed to summon Striborg, it goes back to my hand." She reclaimed Kidbrave, then quickly discarded another card. "Second, by discarding vun card, I can return all your monsters in ze same column to your hand!" Striborg's fan began spinning rapidly, creating a whirlwind that blew Cyber Harpie off the field. Sabrina gasped and picked the card off her Duel Disk.

"Doc, Caspar, Striborg, attack her directly!" The two marskmen and the robot fired simultaneously, knocking Sabrina over.

"Sabrina!" Tyler had finally managed to find the girls. He rushed over to Sabrina's side and helped her up. She brushed herself off and drew a card, beginning her turn.

"Thanks," She said, looking at what she had. She nodded to herself, as Tyler stepped back and let her handle things. "I'm going to summon _my_ favorite monster! Harpie Huntress!" A bird cry came out of nowhere, and a new Harpie swooped down to join the duel. She had shoulder length blonde hair, and bright pink feathers. That, along with her blue bodysuit, made her resemble an older version of Harpie Girl. (1600 ATK)

"And when she's summoned, I get to add one Hysteric or Formation card to my hand." She searched her deck for the right one, then shuffled. "Next, I'll activate the card I just searched for, Hysteric Sign." A continuous spell appeared behind Huntress, and another card shot into Sabrina's hand. "Which lets me search for Elegant Egotist. And I'll activate that too!"

A kaleidoscope-like aura surrounded Huntress, before the light came together and formed another Harpie. This one needed no description. "I summon Harpie Lady #1! And, as everyone knows, she gives all my Wind monsters 300 extra attack points." The two monsters spread their wings and cawed in unison.

"Now to get rid of that monster of yours. I play Quill Pen of Gulldos! By returning two Wind Attribute monsters from my Graveyard to my deck, I can return Striborg to your hand!" A comically oversized quill pen appeared in Harpie Lady's hands. She flicked her wrist and conjured up an enormous gust, which carried the robot off the field.

"Attack, girls!" Harpie Lady rushed forward and slashed Doc with her claws, while Huntress produced a hidden dagger and tossed it at Caspar. Rip gasped as her monsters were destroyed. "I set one card and end my turn."

 **(RLP 4900) - (SLP 2200)**

"Atta girl!" Tyler cheered, slapping Sabrina on the back. She jumped and held her still sore back, giving her teammate a scowl. "My bad..." He backed off, putting his hands up defensively.

"Verdammt..." Rip cursed, regretting her decision to duel instead of simply shooting Sabrina. She drew a card and narrowed her eyes, baring her fangs. "I activate One Day of Peace! Ve each draw a card, und neither of us takes damage until your turn ends." She looked at her hand and was clearly not happy yet. "Next, Upstart Goblin. I get one draw, you get 1000 Life Points." A healing aura spread over Sabrina, helping her stand up straighter.

"I summon Magical Musketeer Kidbrave once more." The cowboy appeared for the third time, looking rather bored. "Then I play Double Summon. I'll tribute him to bring out my ultimate monster!" Kidbrave was consumed by flames, which soon gave way to a much more intimidating figure. This one was obviously a fiend, unlike the others, with curved horns and enormous wings. He wore dapper clothes, and wielding the same odd pistols that Caspar had. The demonic grafts of the Magical Musketeers were clearly based on him. (2500 ATK)

"This is Magical Musket Mastermind Zakiel!" Rip laughed, almost maniacally. "Und he vill be the card zat leads you to your doom!" She bit her glove excitedly. "Take your last turn, Mädchen."

"Stop calling me that!" Sabrina said, drawing. "I'm 21 years old, that's hardly a girl anymore!" She played the card she had drawn thanks to One Day of Peace. "Supremacy Berry boosts my Life Points by 2000, since you have more than I do."

"Next, I'll re-summon Cyber Harpie." The armored monster folded her arms... wings?... and scowled. "And I'll activate Harpie Lady Eagle Formation!" The three harpies on her field stood together and were surrounded by a blazing, golden aura, in the shape of an eagle. "This lets me draw once for every Harpie Lady I have."

Sabrina's face lit up and she smiled. "I activate a powerful card that no Harpie deck should ever be without! Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation!" A blazing blue energy began to burn over Sabrina's field...

"I chain activate Magical Musket Fiendish Deal!" Rip played a continuous trap, which, fittingly, had Zakiel in the artwork. "Zakiel's effect lets me play Magical Musket cards from my hand during either player's turn! Und this trap prevents all my monsters from being destroyed outside of battle!"

The two Shadowchasers nearly toppled over in surprise. Sabrina looked at her remaining cards, not sure what to do. "I... I switch my harpies to defense mode, and set one card. That ends my turn."

"Then I draw one card from Zakiel's second ability." Rip smiled. "Face it, child, your filthy birds don't stand a chance against the might of Millennium."

 **(RLP 4900) - (SLP 5200)**

"I summon Magical Musketeer Calamity." Another sharpshooter stepped onto the field. This one was a redheaded woman, carrying a rocket launcher of all things. She lacked a graft, and wore a cape resembling Zakiel's wings. (1500 ATK)

"Next, I'll play a trap. Magical Musket Barrage!" Calamity vanished, and Zakiel's wings began glowing with an infernal light. "By tributing 1 monster, I can grant Zakiel 500 extra attack points, und an additional attack this turn! I'll also be equipping him with Fairy Meteor Crush!" Zakiel's wings glowed even brighter, becoming almost iridescent.

"Since Barrage was activated in the same column as Calamity, I can use her effect to revive Caspar." The original gunman rose up onto the dueling ground, crouching in defense mode. (2000 DEF)

"Now attack her Harpies!" Zakiel fired his pistols, twin fireballs blazing towards Sabrina's monsters. She waited until the last second and pressed a button on her Duel Disk.

"I activate Aqua Chorus! Since my monsters all have the same name, they get 500 points to both scores!" Huntress and Harpie Lady's defense points went up just before they were hit, shattering into millions of pixels. Sabrina grunted as her life points fell yet again.

"Hmph. I play Mystical Space Typhoon to get rid of Aqua Chorus before it can give me anymore trouble." Rip said, yet another of Sabrina's cards exploding this duel. She ended her turn, looking impatient. "I will end you soon enough."

Sabrina had three cards in her hand. One of them could help her win this. One of them would only stall for later. And one was useless.

"I activate Twin Twisters! By discarding one card, I can destroy two spells or traps on the field! So I choose your Fairy Meteor Crush, and my Hysteric Sign!" Two identical tornados blew across the warehouse, destroying the equip spell and the continuous.

"Then, I'll set a monster and switch Cyber Harpie to defense mode." The armored avian knelt, still glaring at her opponent.

"Sabrina, let me join in! We can beat her if we work together!" Tyler insisted. But Sabrina pushed him back. "No way, this is my fight. I started it, and I have to finish it." She turned to face Rip, a look of pure determination on her face.

"Now that it's my end phase, I can use Hysteric Sign's effect! I get to add three Harpie cards with different names to my hand." Sabrina quickly picked out the ones she needed, then slid her deck back into her duel disk. _I just have to last long enough to use them..._

 **(RLP 4900) - (SLP 2800)**

"You're only delaying the inevitable." The nazi vampire said. "Ve vould have von World War III if it hadn't been for Alucard, and he's not here right now." She switched Caspar into attack mode.

"Take out her monsters!" Zakiel destroyed Cyber Harpie Lady. Caspar fired at the set monster, which revealed itself to be Harpie Channeler. She swatted the bullet away with her staff and gave him a haughty look. Rip just scoffed and ended her turn.

Sabrina stood up straighter and glared at Rip. "You know what, I'm tired of you. Your obnoxious personality, your gun fetish, and all your stupid fourth reich nonsense." She drew a card, but didn't change her expression.

"You think you're so superior, huh? Well then why did you lose? You guys became a cliche we use in bad scifi movies and comic books." She activated one of her set cards, Harpie's Feather Storm. Feathers rained down on Rip's monsters, dulling their colors. "My trap negates your monsters' effects for the rest of the turn, so whatever traps you're holding onto are useless."

"And getting more personal, you were a one-off bad guy who's only remembered because of an abridged series, which reduced you to a meme spouting parody of tumblr." Sabrina knew Rip probably wasn't aware of memes or tumblr, but the insult still stood. "I activate Hysteric Party! By tossing one card, I can summon as many Harpies from my graveyard as possible!"

The room became flooded with bright lights and music, as Cyber Harpie Lady, Harpie Huntress and Harpie Lady #1 rose from the grave. Channeler perked up when she saw them, and they all stood together, united.

"So vhat?" Rip asked, not impressed. "Even vith Harpie Lady's effect, none of them are as strong as Zakiel."

"I'm not done yet!" Sabrina played another card, a spell with the same background as Phoenix and Eagle Formation. This time, however, the bird was made of purple fire. The four Harpies lined up and were bathed in the flames, which formed a fiery peacock. "I activate Harpie Lady Peahen Formation!"

Rip shielded her eyes from the light, while Tyler barely contained his excitement. "This card increases the level of all Harpies by 2! So now that I have three level 6 monsters, I can build the overlay network!"

The cosmic portal opened, and three Harpies flew in. "I'm summoning the one, the only, Harpie Empress!" A brand new monster floated up through the portal, spreading her wings. It was a Harpie alright, with long blonde hair and purple feathers. She wore a tiara and a bustier, and carried a thorny whip. The Mardi Gras style mask on her face did little to hide her good looks. (2600 ATK)

"Is that Mai Kujaku?" Tyler was the first to notice. Sabrina simply waved her hand. "Oh, I get it, Kujaku means 'peacock' in Japanese!"

"Yep, this card was made in the image of the first Harpie duelist." Sabrina replied. "And she's plenty powerful! First of all, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can resurrect a low level Wind monster... including the one I just discarded!" Cyber Harpie Lady returned to the field once again, looking excited.

"Second, Empress' effect boosts the attack of all Harpie Ladies on the field by 300, times the number that I have! Combine that with Harpie Lady 1's effect, and you get a whopping 1200!" The empress' score increased to 3800, Cyber Harpie's to 3000, and Lady's to 2500.

"Get that bitch!" Cyber Harpie lassoed her whip around Zakiel's neck, then pulled it tight, shattering him. Harpie Lady 1 sliced Caspar in half with her talons. Empress drew her whip and, smirking, lashed Rip across the face.

 **(RLP 0) - (SLP 2800)**

"Not again!" Rip cried, falling to her knees and she vanished from this dimension. Sabrina nearly fell into Tyler's arms, exhausted. He smiled and helped her stay up, making sure to keep his hands where she could see them. The last time he tried hitting on her, she had made it very clear that she wasn't interested.

"When we get back to headquarters, remind me to take Hellsing off my favorites list." She sighed, picking up her cards.

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **I hope you enjoyed that!**

 **Now that everyone's been established, it's time to start advancing the plot!**

 **Tune in next time to see what Caspian's up to, in a chapter I like to call Mermaid Knight!**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

Cards I invented:

Magical Musket Barrage: *Caspar holding two guns, one silver and the other gold*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Tribute 1 "Magical Musketeer" monster you control, then target 1 other monster you control. That monster gains 500 ATK, until the End Phase, and can attack twice during this Battle Phase.

 **0**

Harpie Huntress: *blonde harpie with short hair and pink wings*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Winged Beast

Level- 4

Attribute- WIND

ATK/DEF- 1600/1200

Text- When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you can add 1 "Hysteric" or "Formation" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. This card's name is treated as "Harpie Lady" while it's on the field or in the Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "Harpie Huntress" once per turn.

 **0**

Harpie Lady Eagle Formation: *magic circle surrounding an eagle made of golden fire*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Draw 1 card for each face-up "Harpie Lady" you control. You can only activate 1 "Harpie Lady Eagle Formation" each turn.

 **0-0-0**

Cards invented by somebody else-

Harpie Lady Peahen Formation: *peacock made of purple flames in a magic circle*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Activate only when you control 2 or more face-up "Harpie Lady" monsters. Increase the Level of all face-up "Harpie Lady" monsters you control by 2.

 **0**

Harpie Empress: *blonde, purple feathered harpie wearing a tiara, mask and bustier and wielding a thorny whip*

Card Type- Xyz Monster

Monster Type- Winged Beast

Attribute- WIND

Level- Rank 6

ATK/DEF- 2600/2800

Text- 3 level 6 WIND monsters. This card's name is treated as "Harpie Lady" while on the field and in the Graveyard. All face-up "Harpie Lady" you control gain 300 ATK for each face-up "Harpie Lady" on the field. Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower WIND monster from your Graveyard.

Credit: The preceding two cards were both invented by MultiplePersonas, and first used in Tournament of Shadows. Used with permission.


	5. Mermaid Knight

_Rest and relaxation are a rare treat for Shadowchasers. When you put a handful of young adults in charge of policing an entire city, obviously they won't get much time to themselves._

 _Self care is very important in such a stressful line of work. And for me, self care means swimming. Fortunately, River City is surrounded by water, and filled with aquatic Shadowkind who know how important hydration is for someone like me._

 _Unfortunately, there's just as many assholes underwater as there are on land. And these ones are harder to see coming..._

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 05 - Mermaid Knight**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

" _Sei e va'ai mai, I le tātou lalolagi_ ~" Caspian sang to himself while brushing his fingers through his hair. He flipped his fins, bathing his ruby red scales in the salt water harbor. His bronze skin coupled with his slim yet toned body made him quite the handsome sight, or at least it would, if anyone else was around. He had left his shirt, sword and Duel Disk at home, wanting to enjoy his time away from work.

Caspian was a Shadowtouched, with a human father and mermaid mother. While he had legs on land, submerging himself in water changed them into a proper merfolk tail, and gave him a pair of gills. Fishblooded individuals were rare, as merfolk tended to be xenophobic towards humans. (That was one of several things The Little Mermaid got surprisingly right.) Because of this, Caspian considered himself the Shadowchasers' unofficial ambassador to all aquatic Shadowkind. He planned on making that title official, once he got the chance to visit the Citadel of 10,000 Pearls.

" _Sei e va'ai mai, I le mātou lalolagi. Se_ -" Caspian's fun was cut short when he suddenly heard someone crying out for help, in Aquan. "Twenty minutes, that's a new record." He sighed, diving underwater to investigate. Aquan was the language of the Elemental Plane of Water, and most aquatic Shadows spoke it. In River City, it was hard not to pick up at least a few words, as many Shadowkind lived in the water around the city. Caspian, being the only member of his team who could breathe underwater, had to police this one alone.

Swimming around, he quickly found the source of the noise. A sahuagin, the mortal enemy of the merpeople. They were monstrous, fish-like humanoids who preferred brute strength over brains, and were known for their foul temper. The race was banned from the Citadel of 10,000 Pearls, and anyone who knew anything about it knew that they were just biding their time until they could invade.

"What do you want?" Caspian asked, not seeing anyone else in the area. "Let me guess, my head for your trophy room? Well I'll tell you right now, I can fillet a fish in 25 different ways, so-"

"I don't want to fight, Shadowchaser." The sea devil interrupted, his voice giving away his gender. He spoke in fluent English this time. "I apologize for the false alarm, I simply wanted to get your attention." He held up his necklace for the Shadowchaser to see. It appeared to be made of obsidian, carved into the shape of a sun. "My mistress wants to test your strength." On his arm was a Duel Disk of the same color.

"Your mistress?" Caspian raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, not interested. I've already got a boyfriend... I think. But if you want to duel, fine." He summoned his Duel Disk, a standard model with a sea green blade. Thanks to Kaiba Corp's almost paranoid amount of safety measures for their most popular product, and some air tight card sleeves, an underwater duel was completely possible.

 **(Caspian LP 8000) - (? LP 8000)**

"What's your name, ugly?" Caspian asked, drawing his opening hand.

"Lance." The fishman replied, doing the same.

"A human name? That's new." The Shadowchaser quickly formed a strategy. "I set two cards and summon my Sea Steel Swordfish!" The monster seemed to swim onto the field. It was, well, exactly what it sounded like. A silver and blue swordfish, with an actual blade for a nose. (1600 ATK)

"And now I'll use his effect, which deals you 400 damage for each Sea Steel monster I control!" Swordfish charged- swam?- forward and sliced at Lance, making him grunt slightly, before returning to its owner. "That ends my turn."

"My turn." Lance drew and immediately played a card. "I activate the continuous spell card, Thumbs Up!" This was a card Caspian had never heard of before. It depicted Gladiator Beast Heraklinos fighting Akz the Pumer. "But its effect doesn't activate yet, so we'll get to that later."

"I summon Gladiator Beast Laquari!" In a burst of flames, a new monster appeared on the field. A humanoid tiger dressed in bright orange armor. (1800 ATK) This one, Caspian recognized. His first official duel as a Shadowchaser had been against a drugged up minotaur using Gladiator Beasts. Of course, his life wasn't on the line in this duel. At least, he assumed it wasn't.

"Attack!" Laquari lunged at Swordfish and ripped it to pieces with its flaming claws. Caspian hit a button on his duel disk, and his face down sprung to life.

"I activate my trap card, Sea Steel Spire!" An enormous, twisting tower made of coral and metal rose up behind him, and a large spike grew out of it. "This card acts like Backfire for Water monsters, but with a twist! Every time I use its effect, it gains a Spire Counter." Lance growled as his Life Points dropped again.

"I set two cards and end my turn." Two backrow cards appeared behind Laquari, who started glowing. "And that means my gladiator tags out!" The tiger man vanished, replaced by another humanoid animal, this one a rhinoceros in full body armor. "When Hoplomus is summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast, his defense points become 2400!"

"And that's not all, Shadowchaser! The effect of Thumbs Up activates now, increasing my Life Points by 500 whenever a Gladiator Beast tags out."

 **(CLP 7800) - (LLP 7600)**

Caspian drew and looked over his hand. He didn't trust Lance, or his "mistress". In his four years as a Shadowchaser, he had come to learn that anyone who called their boss something like "master", "mistress", or "my lord", usually turned out to be evil. "I activate Polymerization! I fuse Abyss Soldier with Abyss Warrior!" The two Cetacean warriors appeared above him, and were sucked into the fusion portal. " _Paladins of the ocean, combine your powers and give way to the court magician of Atlantis!_ Fusion Summon!"

The monster that came out of the portal didn't look much like either of its fusion materials. It was a handsome merman with an orca tail, wearing a cloak made of fishnets and carrying a golden scepter. (2800 ATK) "Meet my Abyss Sorcerer!" Caspian said, proudly. "He's quite the looker, but his effect is what you should be concerned about. By banishing a Water-Attribute monster from my Graveyard, I can return any card on the field to the hand!" He pocketed Sea Steel Swordfish, and Sorcerer blasted one of Lance's set cards.

"Show him why we rule the seven seas! Oceanic Curse!" Sorcerer fired another energy blast at Hoplomus, only for it to be reflected. Lance chuckled and gestured to his newly revealed trap card. It was Defensive Tactics!

Caspian frowned and pressed a button on his disk. "Well, that didn't work. But I can still use my swordfish's effect. Because I banished it, I get to add another low level Sea Steel monster to my hand." A card shot out of his deck, and he added it to his hand, but it didn't stay there long. "I'll set it and end my turn."

"Which means that Hoplomus tags out!" The rhino warrior vanished, replaced by a much stranger monster. It was a dinosaur, of all things, wearing spike-covered armor and wielding an enormous halberd. "So not only do I gain 500 Life Points from Thumbs Up, but Gladiator Beast Spartacus lets me add a Gladiator Beast equip spell to my hand!"

"Now I'll begin my turn." Lance drew, his hand now consisting of five cards. "I summon Gladiator Beast Torax!" The monster that appeared was much less intimidating than Lance's other gladiators. It looked like an obese fish, with arms and legs. (1400 ATK)

Caspian snickered. "Well, I'll give you this," He covered his mouth, trying to hide his smile. "He's better looking than you!" Lance scoffed and played another card.

"Typical mermaid, caring only about looks. I special summon Test Tiger via its effect!" A small tiger, wearing decorative orange and blue armor, leaped onto the field, looking very out of place underwater. "But he won't be around for long, because I can tribute him to return Torax to my deck, and special summon another Gladiator Beast!" Test Tiger and Torax vanished, quickly being replaced by a musclebound, anthropomorphic lion wearing golden, winged armor. (2400 ATK)

"Neither of your furries can beat my Sorcerer." Caspian folded his arms, waiting for the big reveal. He didn't know any Gladiator Beast fusions that used either Alexander or Spartacus.

"I'm getting to it." Lance grunted. "By returning two high-level Gladiator Beasts to my deck, I can Fusion Summon! _Roaring spirits of ancient gladiators, gather together and offer your power!_ Fusion Summon!" His monsters disappeared into the familiar fusion portal, but what came out was... unexpected. A tall, humanoid stag, wearing crimson robes and carrying a magic staff. (3000 DEF) "Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor!"

"That's... new." Caspian didn't know how to react. He had been expecting something much scarier, to put it simply. "So what does he do?"

"Tamer Editor is the emperor's favorite magician." Lance elaborated. "Once per turn, I can special summon a Gladiator Beast monster from my Extra Deck, ignoring its summoning conditions!" Editor raised its staff and chanted in some unknown language. Polymerization appeared above the dueling field, and a monster descended. It looked like a savage feline of some kind, wearing heavy armor and carrying a battleaxe in one hand and a shield in the other. "Heraklinos will do just fine!" (3000 ATK)

"Destroy his sorcerer! Gladiator axe attack!" Heraklinos swung its weapon, cleaving Abyss Sorcerer in half. It shattered into pixels, and Caspian had to shield his eyes from the sight. "I might take damage from your trap," Lance said, as another spike grew onto Sea Steel Spire, "But it was worth it! Now I end my turn with this set card."

 **(CLP 7600) - (LLP 7600)**

Caspian drew a card, and frowned. _Kokami_ , this isn't going to help at all. He looked at his field, and his opponent's cards. He hadn't had a bricked hand like this in years. "I... pass." His fins touched the sandy ocean floor, sinking just like his mood.

Lance drew, then immediately played one of his cards. "Bad hand, Shadowchaser? Not for me! I activate my field spell, Colosseum - Cage of the Gladiator Beasts!" Out of the ground rose an enormous, stone arena, like a less artistically made version of the Roman Colosseum. "But its effect doesn't come into play yet. So instead, I'll use my trap card, Thumbs Down!" One of the fishman's set cards lifted up. The artwork depicted Gladiator Beasts Torax and Andal kneeling before an emperor, who was giving a thumbs down. "In real gladiator matches, you weren't allowed to finish off an opponent until the emperor gave the right signal. A thumbs up meant he lives, but a thumbs down meant it was his last fight!"

"Just tell me what it does." Caspian wasn't in the mood for a history lesson. Lance grinned, a terrifying sight, as his mouth was full of fangs.

"Whenever a card is destroyed, its owner takes 500 points of damage! Of course, Thumbs Down itself is destroyed if I don't control any Gladiator Beasts, but that's not important right now." The sahuagin paused for a moment, as if considering his next move. His black sun pendant seemed to be glowing. "Yes, that'll do. I activate Tamer Editor's effect again!" The fusion raised its staff, ready to cast its spell.

"I was waiting for that! I chain activate the appropriately named Oh F!sh!" Caspian's trap shot up, and a phantasmal image of Sea Steel Swordfish appeared. "By shuffling one of my banished Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua Type monsters into my deck, I can negate your monster's effect and destroy it!" Swordfish shot forward like a torpedo, impaling Tamer Editor, which exploded.

Lance growled. "I still have my normal summon, and I'll use it to play Gladiator Beast Lanista!" A new gladiator flew out of the Colosseum. It was a humanoid eagle in green armor, carrying a large spear. (1800 ATK) Caspian made a face, expressing his distaste for birds. "And I'll equip him with Gladiator Beast's Battle Gladius, which gives him 300 more ATK!" Lanista's spear was replaced with a short sword. "Attack!"

"The monsters you just destroyed was Sea Steel Gillman!" Caspian explained, as a card slid out from his graveyard. "And by banishing him after he's destroyed, I can special summon another Level 3 or lower Sea Steel monster from my deck! Like a second Gillman!" Another one of Caspian's metallic sea creatures swam onto the field. This one seemed to be a sahuagin, ironically. It was short and squat, but looked less vicious than Lance. (2000 DEF)

"A mermaid using a monster that resembles a sahuagin? That's just wrong." Lance spat. He growled as his life points dropped due to Sea Steel Spire's effect. "Heraklinos, destroy it!" The enormous fusion slashed the tiny monster, setting off both players' trap cards.

"Before I end my turn, I tag out Lanista and summon Gladiator Beast Augustus!" This one, Caspian had heard of. A scaly, dinosaur-like creature with pale violet scales, wearing sleek black armor. It was technically a Winged Beast, but it hardly resembled one. (2600 ATK) "And because I did that, my field spell gains one counter, which gives all my gladiators 100 extra attack and defense points! Time is running out, Shadowchaser."

 **(CLP 6600) - (LLP 7100)**

Caspian closed his eyes, knowing that his situation was getting worse with each passing turn. He drew, then slowly looked at the card. This'll do just fine. He nodded, his cocky smile spreading across his face once more. "I activate Service Ace!" The Big Server appeared behind the Shadowchaser, preparing to strike. "I pick one card in my hand, and you have to guess what it is. A monster, a spell, or a trap. If you're wrong, you take 1500 points of damage. Either way, I banish it. Understand?" He lifted up one of his two remaining cards.

Lance stopped for a second to think. He'd never had to play a guessing game with his opponent before. "Your monsters like being banished... but I heard you can do that with spells and traps too..." He went silent, stroking the fins on his face like you would a beard. Caspian counted two minutes before Lance spoke again. "It's a monster!"

He turned the card around. "Nope." It was Card from a Different Dimension. "Next turn, I get my second wind! Until then, I'll defend with this." Abyss Warrior's card slid out of his Graveyard, and he pocketed it. In a flurry of bubbles, Aqua Spirit appeared on the field, and blew a kiss. (1200 DEF) "I end my turn."

Lance growled. Sahuagin hated nymphs almost as much as mermaids. "Before you do anything, Aqua Spirit's effect activates!" The sea nymph winked at Heraklinos and blew a few bubbles at the enormous fusion. It seemed to smile, which was not a pleasant sight, and crouched in defense mode. (2800 DEF)

"Augustus, attack Gillman!" The smaller monster shattered, and both players winced as they took effect damage. "At least you don't have any more copies of that annoying little thing."

"No, but I do have my Buckler Turtle!" The metal-shelled reptile Caspian used against Sheila appeared, letting its master pet it before retreating into its shell. "I love dueling underwater, my monsters feel right at home." The half-merman swished his tail happily, while his opponent only got angrier.

"Augustus tags out, and I summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo!" Lance's new monster, like Gillman, resembled a sahuagin, but it was bright blue and had pink fins. (400 DEF) "And when he's summoned, he destroys one of your monsters!" Aqua Spirit shrieked and exploded, as Thumbs Down and Thumbs Up activated again.

"I set this card and end my turn." Lance looked Caspian in the eyes. "You're disappointing me, Shadowchaser. My mistress had high hopes for you, but she will reward me greatly when I defeat you."

 **(CLP 5600) - (LLP 5600)**

"It's my turn! And Card from a Different Dimension returns, so we both draw two cards!" Caspian drew excitedly. "I activate Fusion Recovery, which gives me back Polymerization and Abyss Soldier." He didn't take long to make his next move. "Now that Sea Steel Spire has five counters, the maximum amount, I can send it to the graveyard, then special summon a level five or lower Sea Steel monster from... well, almost anywhere."

The tower behind him sank into the ground, creating an enormous chasm. "I choose Sea Steel Anchor Squid!" The monster that rose out of the chasm looked more mechanical than any of Caspian's previous card. It was a giant squid with chain link tentacles and an anchor coming out of its head. (2000 ATK)

"Now for my normal summon. I play Deep Sea Diva!" A high pitched, melodious noise rang through the bottom of the harbor, and the source soon made itself visible. It was a mermaid, with pink and white scales, and fins instead of hair. (200 ATK)

"You certainly like cards that look like yourself, mermaid." Lance spat. Some sahuagin believed that their species evolved from sea serpents, so seeing a Duel Monster of that type resembling their natural enemy, of course made them angry.

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful." Caspian smiled, pressing a button his Duel Disk. A menu opened up, showing every monster he could summon with Diva's effect, which wasn't many. "As I'm sure you know, Deep Sea Diva lets me summon a level 3 or lower Sea Serpent from my deck. So I'll choose Sea Steel Chain Eel!" The monster looked exactly like what the name implied. It was a long, silver eel, with a pattern on its scales that resembles chains. (500 ATK)

"Now I'll fuse them together!" The swirling yellows and blues of Polymerization appeared overhead, engulfing two of Caspian's monsters. " _Beautiful creatures from beneath the sea, combine your powers and give way to a monster like no other!_ Fusion Summon!" A monster began emerging from the fusion portal. It was an enormous sea serpent, with electric blue scales and razor sharp teeth, wearing a jet airliner as body armor. (2400 ATK)

"Meet Sea Steel Aqua Dragon!" Caspian announced, as he quickly made a few taps on the screen of his Duel Disk. "When my monster is fusion summoned, he banishes two of your cards!" Aqua Dragon roared, creating a riptide, and Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down vanished. Lance nearly toppled over as the blast hit him. "Oh, I should also mentioned, whenever a card is banished by one of my card's effects, my dragon deals you 300 damage."

"I think I'll give you another demonstration. I activate Chain Eel's effect! By banishing it and Deep Sea Diva from my graveyard, I get to draw two cards!" He pocketed the fusion materials, and Aqua Dragon blasted Lance again. "Next, my field spell! Sea Steel Abyss!" A wave of light washed over the harbor, but other than that, nothing really changed. "I don't know what I expected..."

"Well, anyways, all my Water monsters now gain 300 attack and defense!" Aqua Dragon's ATK rose to 2700, and it roared. "Attack Murmillo!" A burst of concentrated water shot out of the monster's mouth, shattering the small fish. "I set these cards and end my turn." Two face-downs appeared behind Caspian's monsters.

 **(CLP 5600) - (LLP 4400)**

Lance drew his fourth card, and frowned. "I don't like losing, Shadowchaser" He said, looking Caspian straight in the eye. "And I especially don't like losing to a half-breed!" Heraklinos stood up in attack position, brandishing its weapons. One of his set cards lifted. "I activate Trojan Gladiator Beast! This special summons a Gladiator Beast from my hand to your field, and lets me draw one card!" A muscular, reptilian soldier leaped out of the trap and stood next to Caspian's monsters.

"Next, Gladiator Taming! This spell gives me control over Retiari for the rest of my turn. So I can tribute him, and summon Spartacus!" The spike-covered dinosaur returned to the field, looking angrier than ever. "And thanks to the two counters on my field spell, he gains 200 attack points!" (2400 ATK)

"Before I start my battle phase, I'll equip Heraklinos with Gladiator Beast's Battle Gladius!" The enormous fusion roared as the glowing sword appeared in its hand. (3500 ATK) "Now attack his dragon!" Heraklinos swung its sword, and Aqua Dragon lunged to meet the attack head on.

"I activate Storming Mirror Force!" Caspian's first set card shot up, and a glowing barrier began to cover his field. But it quickly shattered.

"I discard one card to use Heraklinos' effect, which negates your trap!" Lance discarded his last card, and the attack continued.

"Then I chain my other face down! One of the strongest cards in my deck, Poseidon Wave!" The enormous figure of the ancient sea god appeared behind Caspian, as a wave in the shape of a fist blocked Heraklinos' sword. "Poseidon's no Eadro, but when it comes to ocean gods, you can't find a more famous one! This powerful trap negates your attack and deals you 800 points of damage for each Fish, Aqua and Sea Serpent type monster I control!"

The wave knocked Heraklinos over, and continued until it hit Lance, sending him spiraling back several feet. Caspian counted the seconds, hoping he could win by technical knockout, but no such luck. The sahuagin managed to get to his feet, a look of pure rage on his face. The black sun necklace he wore was dented and covered in sand, adding insult to injury. "Spartacus, destroy his squid!" The dinosaur sliced through Anchor Squid easily.

"I'll take it you're ending your turn." Caspian said, after a solid minute of silence. He drew a card and smiled. "My prayers have been answered!" He hit a button on his screen and moved right into his Battle Phase. "Aqua Dragon, attack Gladiator Beast Heraklinos with Roar of the Deep Sea!"

"What?!" Lance's question was answered when he saw what Caspian had drawn. "Battle Fusion!" Aqua Dragon's attack score rose to a massive 5900, and it fired its water blast.

 **(CLP 5500) - (LLP 0)**

Lance fell to the ground, and his necklace shattered. Caspian sighed with relief and turned around, heading back to shore. "So much for my R&R." He muttered to himself. "I just hope something good is on."

Little did her know that, far away from the harbor, on the other side of the city, someone had been watching his duel...

In a dark yet opulent room, lit only by candlelight, four figures in hooded cloaks sat around a table, looking into an obsidian mirror. One of them turned their head, looking at the head of the table. No one sat there. Instead, an enormous stone coffin stood where a chair would be. "Lance failed, Mistress. We should have sent someone with more skill." The one who spoke had a girl's voice.

The coffin glowed with an unearthly light. "No." A voice spoke, seemingly coming from inside. It was deep and commanding, ancient and unmistakably female. "He did exactly what he was supposed to. Gather information. Send out three more, I want to test all the Shadowchasers before we begin." It said.

"Yes, Mistress." The four cloaked figures put their hands over the mirror, as if conducting a ritual, and spoke in unison. "Snuff out the light!"

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **Join us next time for our first non-dueling chapter, simply called "Darkness".**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

Anime original cards-

Thumbs Down: *Gladiator Beasts Antal and Torax kneeling in front of an emperor who is giving a thumbs down*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Continuous

Text- Activate only if you control a "Gladiator Beast" monster. If a card(s) is destroyed by battle or card effect, its controller takes 500 damage for each destroyed card.

First Appeared: ARC V anime, "The Battle Beast"

0

Cards I invented-

Thumbs Up: *Gladiator Beast Heraklinos standing with his sword pointed directly at Akz the Pumer's chest*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Continuous

Text- Each time a "Gladiator Beast" monster you control returns to your Deck due to its own effect, you gain 500 Life Points.

0

Sea Steel Swordfish: *neon colored swordfish with actual sword nose*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fish

Attribute- WATER

Level- 4

ATK/DEF- 1600/1200

Text- If this card is Banished by your own card effect, you can add 1 Level 4 or lower "Sea Steel" monster from your Deck to your hand. Once per turn, you can inflict 400 damage to your opponent for each "Sea Steel" monster you control. This card cannot attack the turn you use this effect.

0

Sea Steel Spire: *tall, spiky underwater tower surrounded by fish*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Continuous

Text- Each time a WATER monster you control is destroyed by your opponent's card or effect, inflict 500 damage to your opponent, then place 1 Spire Counter on this card. (Max. 5.) During your Main Phase, you can send this card to the GY, then Special Summon 1 "Sea Steel" monster from your Deck, GY or Banished Zone with a Level equal to or less than the number of Spire Counters on this card. You can only control 1 "Sea Steel Spire".

0

Abyss Sorcerer: *dark skinned merman with an orca tail, wearing a cloak made of fishnets and wielding a golden scepter*

Card Type- Fusion Monster

Monster Type- Aqua

Level- 7

Attribute- WATER

ATK/DEF- 2800/2300

Text- "Abyss Soldier" + "Abyss Warrior". Once per turn, you can Banish 1 WATER monster from your GY, then target 1 card on the field, and return it to the hand. This card cannot attack the turn you use this effect, if the returned card was a monster. When this card is destroyed, you can target up to 3 of your Banished WATER monsters and return them to the GY.

0

Sea Steel Gillman: *squat, humanoid fish monster with metallic scales*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Sea Serpent

Attribute- WATER

Level- 3

ATK/DEF- 800/2000

Text- When this card is Summoned, except during the Battle Phase, you can add 1 "Polymerization" or 1 "Fusion" Spell or Trap Card from your Deck to your hand, except "Diffusion Wave Motion". If this card is destroyed by an opponent's card and sent to the GY, you can Banish it, then Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower "Sea Steel" monster from your Deck in face-up Defense Position. You can only use this card's first effect once per turn.

0

Sea Steel Buckler Turtle: *sea turtle with a shield for a shell*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Aqua

Attribute- WATER

Level- 3

ATK/DEF- 800/2000

Text- If a face-up "Sea Steel" monster you control would be destroyed by an opponent's card or effect, you can Banished this card from your GY to negate that destruction. If this card is Banished, except by its own effect, you can add 1 "Sea Steel" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this card's first effect once per turn.

0

Sea Steel Anchor Squid: *metallic squid with anchor parts attached*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Aqua

Attribute- WATER

Level- 5

ATK/DEF- 2000/1600

Text- Once per turn: You can Fusion Summon 1 "Sea Steel" Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using monsters from your hand as Fusion Materials, including this card. If this card is Banished by your own card effect, inflict 800 damage to your opponent.

0

Sea Steel Aqua Dragon: *gigantic sea serpent wearing an airplane like armor*

Card Type- Fusion Monster

Monster Type- Sea Serpent

Attribute- WATER

Level- 6

ATK/DEF- 2400/2000

Text- 1 "Sea Steel" monster + 1 Sea Serpent-Type monster. When this card is Fusion Summoned, you can Target up to 2 cards on the field and Banish them. Each time a card is Banished by the effect of a "Sea Steel" card you control, inflict 300 damage to your opponent.

0

Sea Steel Chain Eel: *long, silver eel with chain link pattern*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Sea Serpent

Attribute- WATER

Level- 2

ATK/DEF- 500/1000

Text- When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you can return 1 of your Banished WATER monsters to the bottom of your Deck, then draw 1 card. You can Banish this card and 1 other Fish, Aqua, or Sea Serpent-Type monster from your GY, then draw 2 cards. You can only activate 1 effect of "Sea Steel Chain Eel" each turn, and only once that turn.

0

Sea Steel Abyss: *stormy ocean full of metallic creatures*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Field

Text- All WATER monsters you control gain 300 ATK & DEF, also they cannot be Targeted by your opponent's Spell/Trap Card effects. This face-up card's name is treated as "Umi". Once per turn, you can Banish 1 card from your GY, then add 1 "Sea Steel" card from your Deck to your hand, except "Sea Steel Abyss".


	6. Darkness

0-0-0-0-0

Draw 06 - Darkness

0-0-0-0-0

The headquarters of the River City Shadowchasers was a rather odd building. It had been there since the city itself was founded, 100 years ago, and a large part of the roof was made of wood. Specifically, out of an old wooden fishing boat. If you were to go inside, you would see a plank of wood mounted above the fireplace, which still had the boat's name, "Klaus" written on it.

River City was founded by a group of drunken sailors, who accidentally crashed their boat on a newly discovered island. One of the sailors, Takeru Kimura, decided to turn the wreckage into a house. He was the only one of his friends who knew that the Klaus had a klabautermann, kobold-like spirits who inhabit boats that are well cared for and loved. Takeru, being an Aware, was eventually approached by a representative of Jalal, who asked him to form a team of Shadowchasers to protect River City. He did, and his family had been leading that team ever since.

Klaus, the klabautermann in question, acted as a chef and considered himself a father to the team. Like all of his kind, he looked like a dwarfish man in fisherman's clothes, with a large green beard, which didn't pare well with his serious and authoritative nature. He paced across the living room, as the four Shadowchasers sat on the couch, waiting for him to finish his daily "inspection". "Let's start with a roll call." He said. His voice was unusually deep for someone of his size.

"Hibiki Kimura." The Japanese Shadowchaser was busy getting feathers and bean paste out of her hair, having been assaulted by several angry tengu after arresting Carlyle earlier that day. She nodded, not wanting to be rude.

"Caspian Kalani." The half-merman sighed and nodded. He was still upset over not getting to enjoy his time in the harbor. He held a copy of Out magazine in his hands, which he had been trying to read.

"Sabrina Moore." The blonde put down her phone and nodded. She was looking for something to replace Hellsing on her watch list.

"Tyler Rodriguez." The muscular Colombian looked up from the pencil he had been fidgeting with and smiled. He didn't mind the old spirit's routine as much as the others. His father had run the family home in a similar way to keep Tyler and his three sisters under control.

"Good, you're all here. Anybody have anything interesting to report?" Klaus asked, sitting down and adjusting his beard. He enjoyed hearing stories of the team's (mis)adventures, especially if he thought they were worthy of going in the Shadowchasers' weekly newsletter.

"I fought an anime character." Sabrina said, sighing. Saying it out loud made it sound even sillier than she thought it would. Tyler chuckled, while Kim and Caspian stared at her blankly.

"I think I was approached by a cult member." Caspian began to describe his duel with Lance, and the "Mistress" he had spoken of.

0-0-0

Meanwhile, on the other side of River City, deep underground, a black mass gathered. Nearly a hundred people stood in a dim room with no lighting. Underneath their black hoods and robes, they all wore necklaces like Lance's; pieces of obsidian carved into the shape of a sun.

The curtains on the stage pulled back, revealing four figures. They stood around a stone coffin, which glowed with unholy light. "My children." An ancient voice spoke from inside the coffin. "We are safe, hidden from the cruel sun and those who would oppose us. Remove your hoods." And they did.

The people in the crowd, they were all Shadowkind. Drow, tiefling, sahuagin, duergar, and others, all known for their sinister and/or nocturnal nature. "Snuff out the light!" They chanted it as if it was a prayer.

The four standing with the coffin removed their hoods as well. "My generals will open this week's ceremony, as always." The voice said.

"Schwarz?" The first general was an aging African American man with grey hair and a scarred face. His expression was of pure despair, like someone who had witnessed terrible things. "The Ebon Sun grows stronger with each passing day, Mama Killa." He said, his tone low and somber. "Our membership has grown to 80 in the past week."

"Kuro?" The second was a female Drow. She was pretty, but her eyes were cold, almost sinister. She smiled in a way that told you she was either completely mad, or a genius. "The wards on our temple proved to be much stronger than we suspected, Mama Killa." She replied, sounding eager. "The Shadowchasers and the Mundane police both have no idea that we're down here."

"Noir?" The third general was unmistakably a vampire, with snow white skin and crimson red eyes. He was handsome, with a serious expression, like he didn't enjoy being here. "The local sahuagin and duergar populations are now our allies, Mama Killa. The Ophidia refuse to speak to us, however."

"And Velvet?" The fourth and final general was also a human, like Schwarz, but looked to be albino. Her hair was platinum blonde, and her eyes were completely grey, with no visible irises or pupils. "This is our third year of meeting together, and we no longer have competition." She answered.

"Good, very good. You have all served me well." The coffin rumbled, and slowly opened. The four generals, as well as the cult members in the audience, took a step back. Out of the coffin stepped another robed figure, tall and thin, to the point of looking skeletal. A featureless white mask covered its face, and the only part of it that was visible were its hands. Its skin was grey, its fingers long and bony, and its nails claw-like. "My children, we are the neophytes to a world of darkness! One day, we will no longer fear the sun!" She said. She radiated an aura of superiority, as if she was a queen addressing her subjects.

"I need three of you to go and test the Shadowchasers' strength. Who will step forward?" She asked, pinpoints of violet light shining out through the black eyeholes in her mask. There were whispers among the Ebon Sun's lower members. Could they beat the Shadowchasers? They didn't want to disappoint Mama Killa and risk making her angry.

"I will do it, my dark lady!" Someone said. "And I!" Another. "So shall I." A third, more powerful voice agreed. The crowd stepped back, letting the three volunteers stand before their leader. The first looked like a small girl with elf ears. The second, an old man. And the third was a monstrosity.

Mama Killa simply nodded. "Yes, you three will do just fine." She waved her hands and three blank cards landed in the cultists' hands. "Take these Dark Cards and fight with all your strength. You do not need to win, but if you do, you will be rewarded greatly."

The four generals exchanged looks. Kuro pouted at being left out, while the other three nodded in agreement with their mistress. "Snuff out the light!" They repeated the cult's mantra.

0-0-0

The Shadowchasers listened to Caspian as he finished his story. "That's... troubling." Kim was the first to speak. "We should all go back on patrol and look for anything sinister. We don't want a repeat of what happened in Boston." The Boston Shadowchasers had also had a run in with a cult, the Doom Dreamers, who followed the chained god Tharizdun.

"I kind of have plans already." Sabrina mentioned, looking down at her phone. "I'll pick up after that, I can't break this appointment again."

"Well, three out of four is good enough." Tyler interrupted, not giving Kim the time to argue. "Come on, everybody, lets grab our Duel Runners and go kick some ass!"

"I am taking an hour long bath after this, and none of you can stop me." Caspian grumbled, combing his hair to relieve stress.

"Before you go, Tyler, this came in the mail for you." Klaus said, handing the Colombian an envelope.

Tyler opened it up, finding two cards inside. "Woah..."

He slid them into his Duel Disk and ran to his Runner, excited to go on patrol for once.

0-0-0-0-0

Tyler's about to face an opponent using a deck that may seem familiar to some of you...

Join us next time, in a chapter I'm calling "Happy Lover"!


	7. Happy Lover

_When I say the word "fairy", what do you think of? Probably Tinkerbell, the Tooth Fairy, or some rpg character. Something small and pretty and girly, with butterfly wings and fairy dust and all that._

 _Real fey (they don't like being called "fairies") are a lot more complicated. There's brownies, pixies, nymphs, satyrs... I think elves count too, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject. But they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The one thing they all have in common, aside from magic, is that they're annoying._

 _Good fey pull harmless pranks and cause mischief, while evil ones like enslaving other races and putting curses on people._

 _I'm about to go up against an evil fey, and while she's not the strongest opponent I've faced, she still knows how to get under my skin._

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 07 - Happy Lover**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

Tyler revved up his Duel Runner, driving through the downtown area. There was always something going on, illegal or not, and he really wanted a reason to test out his newly improved deck. It wasn't very professional of him, of course, but in this line of work, "professional" was hard to define.

"Maybe I should grab some lunch." The Hispanic man pulled up in front of Pandora's Box and parked, remembering the day he decided to become a Shadowchaser. After saving his life from a man-eating Sahuagin, Kim had taken Tyler to this exact restaurant to talk. She knew he was an Aware, and explained exactly what that meant. It was the perfect location to do so.

Pandora's Box looked like your average McDonald's style family eatery, albeit with a fantasy theme, but it was something much bigger. The burger joint was run by Shadowkind, and a majority of the employees and customers were Shadows as well. The Shadowchasers would often use it as a safe space to talk to potential members for this very reason.

Stepping inside the castle-shaped restaurant, Tyler immediately saw that something was wrong. Everyone was depressed. The cashier had her face in the cash register, the cooks weren't cooking anything, and the few customers that remained were slumped over in their seats, slowly eating their food. "What the -heck- is going on in here?" Tyler asked, censoring himself when he saw the children moping in front of the cancelled puppet show.

"Maybe they all got salmonella." A high pitched voice giggled. Turning around, the Shadowchaser came face to face with an odd looking girl. She was probably four feet tall, with hot pink skin and empty, almost soulless orange eyes, which were filled with tears. She wore a frilly lolita-style dress, and had ears like an elf, but Tyler knew what she really was. "Would that really be a surprise for a place like this?" The Joystealer laughed.

Joystealers were the result of an Eoshee being possessed by an Unseelie. Centuries ago, the two races had a contest, with the condition that whoever lost would be enslaved. The Unseelie cheated and won, taking control of the Eoshee. Now Joystealers, they fed off negative emotions, and could use their weak magic to cause it in everyone around them. The only way to free an Eoshee was to destroy the sympathetic item that hid the Unseelie, usually an important card in their deck.

"Alright, you little creep, I know how this works. If I beat you in a duel, everyone goes back to normal and you have to give up your slave." Tyler slid on his Duel Disk, stepping back five paces. "I hate Joystealers, almost as much as I hate..." He stopped himself, not wanting to monologue. "Never mind. Just duel."

"How rude! You Shadowchasers don't know how to treat a lady." The fairy dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, but still had an enormous grin on her face. "My name is Arabella, by the way. And who says winning will do anything?" She activated her Duel Disk, which was Barbie pink with a yellow blade.

 **(ALP 8000) - (TLP 8000)**

"I'll take the first move, big boy~" Arabella winked flirtatiously. Tyler cringed, which only made his opponent laugh harder. "I activate Card of Variation! So I get two draws, but I have to discard a card during the end of my turn, or else I take 3000 points of damage." She drew twice, then played one of the cards from her opening hand. "I summon my favorite monster! Maiden in Love!" There was a flurry of heart-shaped bubbles, and a monster appeared. It looked like a young girl, maybe fourteen at the most, with long brown hair and huge anime eyes. She wore an enormous yellow and white dress, and had big pink ribbons in her hair. (400 ATK).

"Uh..." Tyler didn't know what to say, he'd never heard of this card before. "She looks like something in one of Sabrina's corny girl mangas."

"Don't underestimate my Maiden deck," The fae said. "I'll have you know the original user of this strategy once went toe to toe with Judai Yuki." She set two cards and nodded, discarding a card for Card of Variation's effect. "Let's see if you have as much luck as he did."

Tyler drew. "I summon Combustion Gladiator!" In a burst of flames, a new monster leaped onto the field. It was a muscular, humanoid lizard, wearing bright red, Roman-style armor. (1700 ATK) "Attack her maiden!" The Reptile charged forward and slashed at the young girl. She let out a high-pitched squeal, but wasn't destroyed, much to Tyler's surprise.

"I activate Damage Diet!" Arabella's set card lifted, covering her side of the field in a shimmering force field. "Maiden in Love can't be destroyed in battle, and this trap cuts the damage in half!" She smiled as her Life Points dropped. "And, any monster that attacks Maiden in Love gets a Maiden Counter." The girly monster winked and blew a kiss at Combustion Gladiator, who clutched his chest. A large, cartoon heart appeared in the same spot, thumping loudly.

"What does that do?" Tyler asked, knowing how tricky counters could be. He didn't get a response. "Fine, be that way. I set a card and end my turn."

 **(ALP 7350) - (TLP 8000)**

"My turn~!" Arabella drew, immediately playing one of her cards. "I equip Maiden in Love with Cupid Kiss!" A tiny, blonde cherub flew out of the card and kissed Maiden on the cheek, before vanishing. "Now she'll attack your lizard! Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" Maiden in Love formed a heart with her hands, and fired a blast of pink energy. It didn't seem to do anything, at first.

"What's happening to my monster?!" Combustion Gladiator suddenly knelt down, taking Maiden's hand and kissing it. Then he stood up... on Arabella's side of the field. Before Tyler could say anything else, the Gemini attacked him, breathing fire. He fell over from the shock of it.

"That's the effect of Cupid Kiss! When Maiden in Love battles a monster with a Maiden Counter on it, and I take damage, I get to take your monster!" The Joystealer explained. "Now, I'll move to my Main Phase 2, and activate Dian Keto the Cure Master!" She slid the card into her disk and smirked as her life points increased. "I set this monster and end my turn!"

Tyler drew a card and stopped, trying to form a strategy. "You know, you're really annoying." He grumbled. His opponent just laughed. "And I'm getting real tired of your loli bait monster, so how about we bring a real woman into the duel? Like Dark Valkyria!" There was a swirl of shadowy energy, and a new monster appeared. It was female, with albino skin and platinum blonde hair. She wore a silver outfit decorated with blue gems, and had enormous wings. (1800 ATK)

"Now, Double Summon! So I can bring out another monster, like Future Samurai!" A battle cry suddenly came out of nowhere, and a monster landed on the field. A warrior in futuristic armor, wielding a katana made of energy. (1600 ATK) "Time to battle!" Future Samurai rushed forward and sliced through Arabella's set monster. It flipped up, revealing a tiny, white Persian cat.

"That was Maiden's Pet, and when it's destroyed, I get to add any card that specifically lists Maiden in Love in its text to my hand!" A card slid out of her Disk, and she snatched it.

"I hate to do this, but I'm having Dark Valkyria attack Combustion Gladiator!" The fairy raised her hands and fired a burst of dark magic, which suddenly re-routed itself and hit Maiden in Love instead. "What?!"

"That was my trap card, Defense Maiden!" The Joystealer explained, pointing to her new continuous card, which depicted a woman in armor carrying an enormous, spiked shield. "Now you can only attack Maiden in Love! And you know what happens when you do that~!"

Maiden in Love winked at Dark Valkyria, who put her hand to her chest. A Maiden Counter appeared on her, in the same spot as Combustion Gladiator. "Well that's not going to stay around for long! I activate Polymerization!" Tyler said, as the familiar blue and orange swirls appeared overhead. "Do you like dragons? Because I sure do! And by fusing any two Geminis, I can summon one!" Valkyria and Samurai vanished, and a new creature began to emerge from the fusion portal. It was clearly a dragon, walking on all fours, but an odd one. All of its body parts seemed to come from a different creature, except its wings, making it look like a patchwork creature. "Meet Superalloy Beast Raptinus!" (2200 DEF)

 **(ALP 5650) - (TLP 6300)**

"You're gonna run out of tricks eventually, Unseelie." Tyler said, getting serious. "And I already know where you're hiding!"

Arabella frowned, dropping the silly facade. "You're still no closer to winning than you were at the start of the duel, Shadowchaser." The voice didn't come from her, however. Instead, the speaker was Maiden in Love herself. "I equip my avatar with Happy Marriage!" Arabella's body moved like a puppet with loose strings, sliding a card into her Duel Disk. Maiden in Love's outfit changed into a wedding dress, and a bouquet of black roses appeared in her hand.

"Now I gain attack points equal to your Gladiator's!" Her ATK rose to 2100, and she smiled darkly. "Next, I'll play a very special card. Love Triangle!" Two summoning portals opened up on the Joystealer's field, and two monsters stepped out. The first was a young man, probably the same age as Maiden in Love, wearing a Japanese school uniform (500 ATK). The second was a girl who looked almost exactly like Maiden in Love, but blonde, and with a pink dress (800 ATK).

"Meet Maiden's Friend and Maiden's Rival!" The Unseelie giggled. "Friend gains a Maiden Counter when he's summoned, and he prevents Maiden in Love from being destroyed by card effects! And Rival can't be attacked while you have a monster with a Maiden Counter!"

"Now, I attack your dragon!" Maiden in Love fired her pink energy blast, which did nothing. Raptinus growled as a Maiden Counter appeared on it, looking very out of place. "Next, my spell card, Box of Chocolates! This puts two more Maiden Counters on him!"

"How's that going to help?" Tyler asked, getting annoyed.

"You'll see!" Was the only reply.

Tyler drew a card, bringing his hand up to two. "I equip Raptinus with Broken Bamboo Sword! Then, I activate Golden Bamboo Sword, so I get to draw 2 cards!" He looked at his draws, and quickly set both of them. "That's all I can do for now."

 **(ALP 5550) - (TLP 6300)**

Arabella drew, and smiled wickedly. "My monsters' effects activate now!" Both players were surrounded by auras, a bright one around Arabella and a dark one for Tyler. "First, Maiden's Rival deals you 300 points of damage for each Maiden Counter on the field, then Maiden's Friend heals me for the same amount!"

"Now, I set one card, and end my turn." Right before Arabella could tap the button on her Duel Disk to signify her End Phase, both of Tyler's set cards lifted up.

"I activate Balance of Judgment!" The same man depicted on the "Solem" traps appeared behind him, carrying a scale. "Because the number of cards on your field is more than the total number of cards on my field and in my hand, I get to draw cards equal to the difference!" He drew three cards, sighing with relief.

"Next, Dust Tornado! So say goodbye to Cupid Kiss!" The equip card shattered, and the Unseelie gasped.

"Alright, my second wind starts now!" Tyler drew, grinning. "You like that trap card, creepy? Because my monster's going to love it!" An enormous, fanged mouth appeared behind Defense Maiden, biting down on the card and shattering it. The mouth moved over to Tyler's side of the field, and the rest of the monster appeared. It was a squat, goofy looking fiend, with large horns. (1900 ATK) "Meet my Trap Eater!"

"For my normal summon, I'll play Heavy Knight of the Flame!" The monster that appeared was hard to describe. It looked like a chariot being pulled by a single, undead horse, but its bottom half was gone, replaced by the chariot itself. Riding it was a monster dressed in metallic armor, covered in spikes, with a cape and sword, both made out of flames. (1800 ATK)

"You certainly like fire monsters, Shadowchaser." The Unseelie giggled. "If only your dueling skills were as hot as they are."

Tyler glared at her. "I activate Monster Reborn!" The holy ankh shined above the duel, and Dark Valkyria rose from the grave. "Now I tune my monsters together!" Trap Eater turned into four glowing rings, which surrounded Dark Valkyria. "I Synchro Summon Black Brutdrago!" An enormous black dragon, covered in spikes and with ragged wings, stepped out of the summoning portal, its fists clenched tight. (3000 ATK)

"I hate to do this, but Heavy Knight attacks Combustion Gladiator!" The zombie rode on its confusing vehicle, using its sword to slice the Reptile in half.

"Black Brutdrago, attack Maiden's Friend with Crushing Claws!" The Synchro simply raised one of its gigantic hands and brought them down on the young man, shattering him. The Unseelie shrieked as her Life Points fell.

"I'm gonna win this duel soon enough." Tyler smiled, always enjoying his job. Once he figured out how to destroy Maiden in Love, Arabella would be free and the world would have one less Joystealer.

 **(ALP 4450) - (TLP 4800)**

The Unseelie growled as her puppet drew a card. "I activate Bouquet Toss! I get to draw one card for every Maiden Counter on the field." She made three draws, looking at them through Arabella's eyes. "And you get to draw once, because I drew more than two cards." Tyler did so, not looking at it. Maiden's Rival's effect activated, but he didn't even wince.

"I'll use a second Box of Chocolates, placing two counters on your Synchro monster." Black Brutdrago roared as two pink hearts appeared on it. "Prepare to meet my strongest monster, a gift from Mama Killa herself!" The Overlay Network appeared, but this time, it was pure black. "I overlay Maiden in Love and Maiden's Rival!"

"I Xyz Summon my new avatar, Temptress Maiden!" The monster looked very much like Maiden in Love, but older, clearly a young woman now. Her dress was black, and revealed a good amount of cleavage, and she had abandoned her ribbons for a silver tiara studded with black jewels. She wore the same necklace that Lance had been wearing when he dueled Caspian.

Temptress Maiden smiled coldly, and spoke in the Unseelie's voice. "What do you think, Shadowchaser?" She asked, winking seductively. Tyler took a step back, not liking this at all. "It doesn't matter, you won't be around for much longer. When Temptress Maiden is summoned, her- I mean my- attack and defense points are equal to the number of Maiden Counters on the field, multiplied by 500!" Her scores rose to 2500 a piece.

"Before I do anything else, I'll activate Poison of the Old Man!" A haggard old man in heavy robes appeared over the field, carrying two vials. "I can either damage you, or heal myself. I think I'll use the first effect." The old man took one of his vials, filled with a boiling purple liquid, and tossed it at Tyler, making it explode. That got a reaction out of him, knocking him back a bit.

"Now I use my effect! By detaching an Overlay Unit, I can take control of any monster with a Maiden Counter!" Temptress Maiden blew a kiss at Black Brutdrago, who, almost reluctantly, stumbled over to her side of the field. "Time to battle!" Black Brutdrago clenched its fists and slammed them down on Heavy Knight of the Flame, crushing it into embers.

"I activate Gemini Trap Hole!" The burger joint began to shake, and a fissure opened up in the ground, right underneath the Unseelie's field. "Since my Gemini was an effect monster when you destroyed it, this card destroys all your monsters!"

"You little-!" Temptress Maiden screamed in rage. "I activate my effect! If I would be destroyed, I can destroy another monster I control with Maiden Counters instead!" Black Brutdrago shattered, but she remained. "Now I'll destroy your other monster!" The Unseelie fired a blast of dark energy, destroying Raptinus.

"You're officially on my last nerve." She said, ending her turn.

"It's my turn! I draw!" Tyler made a big show out of drawing this time, smiling when he saw that the despair was wearing off. Some of the Joystealer's victims were starting to brighten up, entertained by the duel. "I activate Dark Factory of Mass Production! So I can add two Normal Monsters from my graveyard to my hand." The cards slid out of his discard slot, and he picked them up.

"Now, prepare to see the newest evolution in dueling!" Two new card zones appeared on his card tray, one on each side, and he placed two cards in them. "I load the Pendulum Scale with the Scale 2 Gemini Champion and the Scale 7 Gemini Drake!" Two pillars of light appeared next to him, each one containing a monster suspended in mid-air. The first monster was a scrappy young warrior in black and white clothing, and underneath him was a runic number 2. The second was a four-legged dragon with no wings and golden scales; underneath it was a 7, in the same font.

"What in the nine hells is this?" Temptress Maiden asked, confused. She moved Arabella, checking the screen on her Duel Disk. "Pendulum Monsters?"

"Yep! This is the brand new summoning method, straight off the printing press!" Tyler explained. "I'm allowed to summon monsters from Level 3 through 6, all at the same time!" Combustion Gladiator and Dark Valkyria returned to the field, looking visibly upset. "It's time to end this duel! I Gemini Summon my gladiator, and then I'll activate his effect!" The lizardman hissed at Temptress Maiden, and spat a fireball at her feet.

"By dropping 500 Life Points, I can negate your effect until the end of the turn!" Temptress Maiden gasped as her ATK dropped to 0. "Attack!" Gladiator pulled a short sword out of its armor and sliced the wicked fairy in two.

"I activate Heartbreak!" Her face down card lifted up, and exploded. When the dust settled, Tyler's monsters were still on the field.

"Gemini Drake stops my Geminis from being destroyed outside of battle." He said, before noticing that Arabella had fallen down. He ran over to her and helped her up, noticing a significant difference.

Her skin had changed back to its original color, a dark tan, and when she opened her eyes, they were brown, not orange. "I'm free!" She cheered, wrapping her arms around the Shadowchaser, much to his surprise.

"You're welcome." Tyler smiled, being reminded of one of his sisters. "Do you want to continue the duel?" She shook her head, hitting the surrender button on her disk.

 **(ALP X) - (TLP 1400)**

As everyone in Pandora's Box began to cheer up, Tyler picked up his cards and sat down, ready to finally get that lunch he had come for. "Love this job." He said to himself, shuffling his deck.

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **The first minion of the Ebon Sun goes down. Will Kim and Sabrina be as lucky?**

 **I know, but you can find out in the next chapter, Burden of the Mighty!**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

Anime original cards-

Card of Variation: *a card floating in water*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Draw 2 cards. During your End Phase, either discard 1 card or take 3000 damage.

First Appeared: GX anime, "Primal Instinct"

 **0**

Maiden in Love: *young-ish girl in a fancy dress, with waist length curly brown hair*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Spellcaster

Level- 2

Attribute- LIGHT

ATK/DEF- 400/300

Text- This face-up Attack Position card cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card battles an opponent's monster, place 1 Maiden Counter on that monster at the end of the Damage Step.

 **0**

Cupid's Kiss: *small, blonde cherub with a golden bow, superimposed over a cartoon heart*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Equip

Text- If the equipped monster battles an opponent's monster with a Maiden Counter and you take Battle Damage from that battle, take control of that monster at the end of the Damage Step. You can only use this effect of "Cupid's Kiss" once per turn.

 **0**

Happy Marriage: *a pair of wedding bells*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Equip

Text- Equip only to "Maiden in Love". When this card is activated, target 1 monster you control that is owned by your opponent. The equipped monster gains ATK equal to the ATK of the targeted monster.

 **0**

Defense Maiden: *female knight with long red hair, carrying an enormous shield*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Continuous

Text- While you control a face-up "Maiden in Love", your opponent cannot select other monsters you control as an attack target.

The following cards were all used by Blair Flannigan in the GX episode "The Maiden in Love".

 **0-0-0**

Cards I invented-

Combustion Gladiator: *muscular lizard man wearing scarlet, Roman-style armor*

Card Type- Gemini Monster

Monster Type- Reptile

Level- 4

Attribute- FIRE

ATK/DEF- 1700/1200

Text- This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the GY. While this card is a Normal Monster on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it be treated as an Effect Monster with this effect: Once per turn, you can pay 500 Life Points, then Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls. That monster's effects are negated, until the End Phase.

 **0**

Gemini Champion: *scrappy young warrior in black and white clothing*

Card Type- Pendulum Monster

Monster Type- Warrior

Attribute- DARK

Level- 2

ATK/DEF- 1200/800

Scale- 2/2

Pendulum Effect- ?

Text- ?

 **0**

Gemini Drake: *golden dragon with four legs and no wings*

Card Type- Pendulum Monster

Monster Type- Dragon

Attribute- LIGHT

Level- 5

ATK/DEF- 2100/1400

Scale- 7/7

Pendulum Effect- Gemini monsters you control cannot be destroyed by your opponent's card effects.

Text- ?

 **0**

Box of Chocolates: *an unseen man handing over a large box of chocolates to Maiden in Love*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Place 1 Maiden Counter on a face-up monster your opponent controls. If you control a monster with a Maiden Counter on it, you can use this effect twice. You can only activate 1 "Box of Chocolates" per turn.

 **0**

Heartbreak: *burning photograph depicting Maiden in Love and an unseen man*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Activate only when a face-up "Maiden in Love" you control is destroyed by an opponent's card or effect. Destroy all monsters on the field.

 **0**

Maiden's Friend: *handsome bishounen in a Japanese school uniform, resembling a shoujo manga character*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Spellcaster

Level- 2

Attribute- LIGHT

ATK/DEF- 500/500

Text- When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, place 1 Maiden Counter on this card, then you can Special Summon 1 "Maiden in Love" from your hand or Deck in face-up Attack Position. You can only use this effect of "Maiden's Friend" once per turn. While you control this face-up card, "Maiden in Love" you control cannot be destroyed or targeted by your opponent's card effects. During each of your Standby Phases, increase your Life Points by 300 for each Maiden Counter on the field.

 **0**

Maiden's Rival: *doppelganger of Maiden in Love, this time wearing a pink dress and with a cruel expression*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Spellcaster

Level- 2

Attribute- LIGHT

ATK/DEF- 800/600

Text- This face-up card's name is treated as "Maiden in Love". During each of your Standby Phases, inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each Maiden Counter on the field. While your opponent controls a monster with a Maiden Counter on it, this card cannot be selected as an attack target. If you control a face-up "Maiden in Love" or "Maiden's Friend", you can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Maiden's Rival" once per turn.

 **0**

Maiden's Pet: *small, fluffy white kitten with a pink ribbon tied around its tail*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Spellcaster

Level- 2

Attribute- LIGHT

ATK/DEF- 0/0

Text- FLIP: Add 1 "Maiden" monster, or 1 Spell or Trap Card that specifically lists "Maiden in Love" in its text, from your Deck to your hand.

 **0**

Love Triangle: *Maiden in Love and Maiden's Rival glaring at each other, each grabbing one arm of Maiden's Friend, who looks flustered*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- If you control a face-up "Maiden in Love", "Maiden's Rival", or "Maiden's Friend", you can Special Summon up to 2 "Maiden" monsters from your hand or Deck with different names from each other and that monster. You can only activate 1 "Love Triangle" each turn.

 **0**

Bouquet Toss: *Maiden in Love, wearing a wedding dress, throwing her bouquet into a waiting crowd*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Draw 1 card for every Maiden Counter on the field. If you draw 3 or more cards with this effect, your opponent can draw 1 card. You can only activate 1 "Bouquet Toss" each turn.

 **0**

Temptress Maiden: *older Maiden in Love, wearing a black dress and a tiara*

Card Type- Xyz Monster

Monster Type- Spellcaster

Level- Rank 2

Attribute- DARK

ATK/DEF- ?/?

Text- "Maiden in Love" + 1 Level 2 monster. This card's name is always treated as "Maiden in Love". When this card is Xyz Summoned, its original ATK & DEF become equal to the number of Maiden Counters on the field x 500. Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, take control of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls that has a Maiden Counter on it. If this card would be destroyed, you can destroy 1 other monster you control that has a Maiden Counter on it instead.

(Dark Card)


	8. Burden of the Mighty

_You should never underestimate things based on their size. The most deadly creatures on the planet are bacteria, and we can't even see them without the proper equipment._

 _That goes for Duel Monsters too. A monster with 0 attack points and a powerful effect is usually much more dangerous than one with 3000 attack and no effect._

 _Take my next opponent, for example. His monsters may be tiny and cute, but they're some of the most frustrating I've ever faced._

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 08 - Burden of the Mighty**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 _Three years ago_

Police chief Raymond O'Hara stepped out of his car, approaching the crime scene. There was police tape everywhere, blocking off a large section of the road and the pavement. Someone had found a body.

"Details?" He asked the Deputy Chief, who looked uneasy. She told him that the coffee shop employees had come in to start their shifts, and found a man lying on the ground, unconscious and covered in slash marks. Stranger than that, the man clutched several large feathers in one of his hands.

O'Hara looked at the man, who was being loaded into a hospital gurney. He looked perfectly normal... to everyone else. The chief could see that the man had ebony black skin, white hair, and long, pointed ears, clear signs of a Dark Elf.

"Wonder what did this to the poor fellow." He muttered. The chief had always been a kindhearted man. He had two small children at home, a boy and a girl, and one of the reasons he became a cop was to make the world safer for them.

Checking out the crime scene, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Some blood was splattered on the ground, obviously from the victim's wounds. There were no finger prints or tire tracks, at least none that weren't supposed to be there.

There was, however, a girl who O'Hara had never seen. She was Asian, tall and slightly muscular, with shoulder-length black hair. With her red jacket and faded jeans, you could've mistaken her for a lost college student, if it wasn't for the small scar underneath her right eye. No one seemed to notice her, however, as she walked right past the police tape and began snapping pictures.

"Excuse me, young lady, what are you doing?" The chief asked, furrowing his bushy brow. "This is a crime scene, no reporters allowed."

"I'm not a reporter." She said, reaching into her jacket. She pulled out a badge that looked real enough, but... "I was sent from the higher ups. Don't worry about it." She frowned and turned around, leaving just as quickly as she arrived.

"Wait, hold on!" The older man ran after her, wanting answers. He stumbled, and lost her, as she drove off on her Duel Runner. "What _was_ that?"

 **0-0-0**

 _Two days later_

Raymond O'Hara couldn't stop thinking about that strange girl. She was clearly human, but gave off a vibe that set her apart from the others. And her badge... it was blank. He didn't question it at the time, but now he wondered what it meant, and why no one had paid any attention to her.

Driving through St. Croix Street, the chief was all alone with his thoughts. He had a cup of coffee in his hands, to help calm his nerves. "Get over it, Raymond, she was just some weird kid." He said to himself. And that would've worked, had he not immediately caught sight of her again.

This time, she didn't have her jacket, and was carrying a sword, not a camera. Dropping his coffee, O'Hara pulled over and parked his car, getting out to chase after the mystery girl. "Wait, Miss, I need to speak to you!" He yelled.

Being rather out of shape, it was hard for him to keep up with her, but he did his best. "Semele, come out here, I know it's you." The girl said. O'Hara hid behind a brick wall, trying not to be noticed. There was a loud, fluttering sound, and something... no, some _one_ landed on the ground.

"I'm completely innocent!" This new person, probably Semele, claimed. It was obviously a woman, with a high pitched voice. O'Hara peeked out from his hiding place, wanting to see what was going on. He almost yelped when he did.

Semele was the ugliest thing, man or woman, Raymond had ever seen. Thin and shriveled, with a wobbly neck and long, pointed nails. She looked like a vulture! And the feathers. There were thick, dark feathers all over her clothes. No, scratch that, they were attached to Semele herself. She was some kind of bird monster!

"You're never innocent, Semele, there's a reason your flock kicked you out." The mystery girl said, crossing her arms. "Those were your feathers in that Drow's hands. Now tell me why you did it."

"He thought Eilistraee was such a great goddess, well where was she when I had my talons in him?" Semele laughed, an awful sound. "Now pray to whatever silly human god you follow, Shadowchaser, because I'm about to do the same to you!"

Semele lunged forward, brandishing her knife-like nails. The girl, the one called a "Shadowchaser", took a step back and drew her sword. She fought off the hag without breaking a sweat, and swiftly kicked her in the stomach.

"Ugh, not fair..." Semele groaned as she fell to the ground, scratching the pavement. Raymond waited for the girl to finish off her opponent, but was shocked to see her sheath the sword. Instead, she produced a small blue gem from inside her pocket, and pointed it at the monster, who vanished in a bright light.

"What was that?" The chief stepped out of his hiding place, deciding to confront the mystery head on. "Your sword, that monster, then it just disappeared!"

The girl's sword hand twitched, as if she was afraid, but only for a moment. "My name is Kim, and I'm a Shadowchaser." She said.

 **0-0-0**

 _Today_

Chief O'Hara sat down and sipped his coffee, letting out a sigh. This was the third time this month he'd had to meet with this mysterious girl who called herself a Shadowchaser. He scratched his burly arms nervously.

"Can we make this quick? Darren and the kids are waiting for me at home." He asked, looking at his contact. She was a pretty girl, but her face didn't look friendly. She had a sword strapped to her side and a Duel Disk on her arm. "I'm running out of fake excuses."

Kim took a pad of paper and a pen out of her bag, and began writing. "My teammates and I have been running into members of a cult called the Ebon Sun. They wear necklaces like this." Kim held up a drawing of the black sun pendant Arabella and Lance had been wearing.

"Oh great, more weirdos." The chief took another gulp of coffee. "Weren't you guys having a problem with a rogue robot last month?" The more he learned about the other world, the less he wanted to know. Mermaids and orcs were one thing, but evil robots and cults were a lot harder to ignore.

"It was a clockwork golem, and we took care of it." Kim adjusted her coat, which covered up the many scars on her arms, six of which she got from that battle alone. "I just want you to keep an eye out for these guys, we think they're dangerous. You know my number if you find anything."

"That's all? No bribes or blackmail necessary?" Chief O'Hara raised an eyebrow. "This isn't an end of the world scenario, is it?"

"We don't know yet, to put it simply." Kim answered. She began to pack up her things, and set some money on the table to pay for her scone. "And we both know that you don't want any hush money." She smiled, which was a rarity for her.

Kim headed back to the parking lot, only to be nearly knocked over by a speeding Duel Runner. "Catch me, Shadowchaser!"

"You little-!" She clenched her fist and took a deep breath, mounting her own bike. "Fine, if it's a chase you want, then it's a chase you'll get."

 **0-0-0**

Kim was a stubborn woman. She had been the only River City Shadowchaser for two months after her mother retired, until she met Caspian. And during those two months, she did everything in her power to protect the city on her own, just like her ancestor did when he founded the team.

Right now, she was chasing down a speeding Duel Runner. It was black and heavily stylized, but the person riding it was unusually small. He cackled loudly, turning on the screen on his Runner. Kim could see him clearly now. His slate grey skin, pale eyes and bleach white beard made it obvious that he was a Duergar.

Duergar were to dwarfs what Drow were to elves. A shadowy, sinister counterpart. They were usually crude and untrustworthy, and even greedier than a regular dwarf. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Shadowchaser. My name is Ivar, and I've come in the name of the Ebon Sun." He introduced himself, showing off the black sun pendant he wore.

"I don't care who you're representing, you tried to run me over!" Kim reminded the Duergar, speeding up so that her Duel Runner was right next to his.

"Bah, it was nothing!" Ivar chuckled. "Just a means of getting your attention. I've come in the name of the Ebon Sun, and my mistress, who wants me to test your strength." He pulled into a clearing, and Kim followed.

Ivar hopped off his Duel Runner, and activated his Duel Disk. It was silver, and seemed to be a child's model. Kim dismounted and activated her own Disk, a brand new red one with a yellow energy blade.

As soon as their Duel Disks activated, all the shadows in the city seemed to gather into one place, covering the alleyway in darkness, obscuring any exits.

 **(Kim LP 8000) - (Ivar LP 8000)**

"You may take the first turn. I may be a criminal, but I'm still a gentleman." The duergar said.

Kim drew her opening hand, and looked it over. "I activate the continuous spell card Gateway of the Six!" An enormous, Japanese-style gate rose up behind Kim, glowing with a pale light. "Every time I summon a Six Samurai monster, this card gains 2 Bushido Counters. Like now!" The gate opened, and a samurai stepped out, almost casually. He wore bright green armor and carried an enormous sword. (ATK 1700)

"I summon Legendary Six Samurai Enishi." Two lanterns lit up atop the gateway, which hadn't been there before. "I end my turn with a set card."

"You're not much of a conversationalist, are you?" Ivar joked, having expected Kim to display the sense of humor Shadowchasers were known for. She said nothing. The duergar huffed and drew a sixth card. "Let's lighten things up a bit. First, I'm activating the effect of my Kuribenefactor. By discarding her, I get to draw two cards." A gold colored Kuriboh carrying a large briefcase hovered over the duelist, then vanished into a shimmer light.

"That's hardly fair." Kim pointed out, tapping her Duel Disk to check the Banlist app. (The newest model of Duel Disks were basically enormous iPads.)

"Well, I can only do that once per turn, and if I do, I have to show you my hand." Ivar turned his cards around, and Kim did her best to study them. She recognized Sangan and Threatening Roar, but the rest were new. "I summon Kuribull!" With a loud roar, a new monster erupted onto the field. It looked like, well, Kuriboh, but it was just as big as Ivar, and had scarlet fur. The monster had a pair of large, curved horns, a nose ring (despite lacking a visible nose), and bloodshot eyes. (ATK 2100)

Kim stared at her opponent's card and blinked a few times, as if she was checking her eyes. "What's the catch?" She asked, deciding not to question it. "I've seen plenty of level 4's with over 2000 attack points, and they all have some kind of weakness."

"Actually, this is a _level five_ monster." Ivar explained. "And if I summon it without a tribute, like I just did, it blows up at the end of my turn. So I'm gonna get as much out of it as I can!" Kuribull bent its head down and rushed forward, impaling Kim's samurai with its horns. She frowned, and activated her set card.

"Battlecry of the Six allows me to special summon a Six Samurai monster from my deck when one on my field is destroyed, as long as its level isn't higher." A samurai in bright orange armor, carrying a glowing naginata, jumped through the gate and landed in front of Kim, kneeling in defense mode. "I choose The Six Samurai - Zanji." (DEF 1300)

Two more lanterns lit up, as Gateway gained more counters. "Not bad, Shadowchaser. But I have another trick up my sleeve!" The shadowy dwarf said, playing a card from his hand. "Five Star Twilight! By tributing one level 5 monster, I get five level 1 monsters!" Kuribull vanished, transforming into five spinning stars. The stars twirled around the field and crashed onto Ivar's field, giving way to five small, adorable monsters. "Say hello to the Kuriboh brothers! Kuriboh, Kuriba, Kuribe, Kuribi, and Kuribu!" The "brothers" were all identical, save for their fur color. Aside from Kuriboh, they were pink, lavender, white and teal. (DEF 200) x5

 _So Kuriboh is an archetype now?_ Kim raised an eyebrow. She had spent a few hours looking over newly released cards that morning, but hadn't seen anything about Kuriboh. _And I thought I2 making_ Thunder Dragon _support was weird._

"I see my Kuribohs have left you speechless!" Ivar laughed. He set two cards and nodded, signifying the end of his turn.

 **(KLP 7600) - (ILP 8000)**

"My turn, then." Kim drew a card, only to be interrupted by her opponent.

"I activate both my set cards! Metaverse and Threatening Roar!" The duergar shouted, as his traps lifted. "Metaverse allows me to activate a Field Spell from my deck, so welcome to the Kuriburrow!" The alleyway was washed over with bright light, which faded and revealed a very odd location. It looked like an enormous prairie dog field, the ground full of holes, with various Kuribohs poking their heads out.

"This field gives all my Kuri monsters 500 more attack points, but obviously, that's not necessary right now." He chuckled.

"If I may get back to my turn." Kim frowned. "I activate Reinforcements of the Army!" A card shot out of her deck, and she added it to her hand. "I summon Attack Gainer!" A skinny, armored warrior with long red hair appeared in front of her. (ATK 0) "And now I'll tune him to Zanji, in order to summon one of my best monsters!" Attack Gainer turned into a ring of light and surrounded Zanji, causing both of them to collapse into five glowing stars.

"I Synchro Summon Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En!" The stars collided and formed a new samurai, this one dressed in red and gold armor. The spikes on his shoulders and kneepads, along with the inexplicable wings on his back, gave him a demonic presence. (ATK 2500)

The Gateway gained two more counters, which quickly extinguished. "I remove four Bushido Counters from my Gateway in order to add a samurai from my graveyard to my hand." Kim looked over her four cards. "I'll set this and end my turn."

"Hm..." Ivar smiled. "It's time to pull out the big guns! I activate Kuribah's effect! By tributing all five Kuriboh brothers, I can special summon something much more powerful!" The five little puffballs vanished, only to be replaced by a monstrous Kuriboh with dark fur and a single, long horn. "Meet Kuribabylon!" (ATK 4500)

Kim stepped back, intimidated. "4500 attack points? What else does it do?" She wished she had a Mirror Force right now.

"Unfortunately, not much." Ivar shrugged. "But it's an amazing beatstick! Skewer her samurai, my pet!" Kuribabylon lowered its horn and flew across the the field, impaling Shi En on its horn. Kim was knocked over from the impact, now regretting upgrading to the newest version of Solid Vision.

 **(KLP 5600) - (ILP 8000)**

"Take all the time you need, Shadowchaser." The duergar smirked. "I'm in no hurry to end this. My mistress will reward me either way."

Kim picked herself up. "I'm not dead yet." She said, stretching her muscles to make sure they were still in tact. She drew a card, and quickly activated it. "Spellbook Inside The Pot lets us both draw 3 cards!"

Kim tapped the screen of her Duel Disk, checking something. She nodded. "I play Double Summon, and I'll summon my Samurai Sword Baron and Legendary Samurai Enishi!" Enishi reappeared, this time accompanied by another samurai. It was a man with massive hair and two swords strapped to his back, wearing a green coat over cloth robes. (ATK 1600)

"Next, I'll remove all four Bushido Counters from my Gateway in order to boost Enishi's attack points by 1000." The legendary samurai raised his sword, which began to glow brighter. (ATK 2700)

"I assume you've got another trick up your sleeve? My monster has almost twice as much strength as yours." Ivar noted. Kim smiled.

"Forbidden Chalice negates your monster's effect, and gives it 400 more ATK." The Shadowchaser watched as Kuribabylon's ATK dropped all the way to 900. "Your Kuribabylon's printed ATK is ?, which means it's nothing without its effect! Enishi, attack!" The green armored warrior slashed the massive Kuriboh to pieces, knocking the duergar back several feet.

"My Sword Baron attacks you directly!" The samurai drew his twin swords and prepared to strike.

"Not so fast! My Kuriblocker prevents your attack!" A new Kuriboh appeared on Ivar's field, this one was rust red and wearing a football helmet. (DEF 2000)

"I'll set this card and end my turn." Kim pursed her lips. "I'm not about to give up any time soon."

Ivar drew, grinning wickedly. "I'll start by activating Mystical Space Typhoon, to tear down your little castle!" A tornado whipped across the field, destroying the Gateway. "Next, I'm summoning Kuribrain!" In a tiny puff of smoke, a new Kuriboh appeared. It had wild, grey fur, and, most surprisingly, a small toothbrush mustache. (ATK 300)

"I'll activate another spell, One For One!" The duergar discarded a card, and a regular Kuriboh popped onto his field. "Now, I tune all three of my monsters together!" Kuribrain turned into a Synchro ring, which surrounded Kuriboh and Kuriblocker. "Behold, the mighty Kuribarbarian!"

Ivar's new monster was... weird. It was an enormous, teal Kuriboh, just as big as Kim, with razor sharp claws, and a viking hat, of all things. (ATK 2400) "I can't use its effect right now, but I can still attack!" Kuribarbarian slashed at Samurai Sword Baron, shattering him.

"I'll also end my turn with a set card!"

 **(KLP 3400) - (ILP 6200)**

Kim was starting to sweat. She'd lost almost half her life points, and hadn't made much of a dent in her opponent's. _You can do this, Kim._ She said to herself, drawing a card. _You wrestled a bugbear into submission before, you can beat an overgrown puffball._ Looking over her hand, she started to formulate a plan.

"I activate my second copy of Spellbook Inside The Pot!" Kim quickly drew three cards, and her opponent did the same. "By banishing two samurai from my graveyard, I can special summon Enishi, Shien's Chancellor!" She pocketed Kageki and Zanji, and a new monster appeared. It was a tall, old Japanese man in traditional clothes, with a sword strapped to his side. (ATK 2200)

"Someone didn't age well." Ivar laughed, looking at Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi, then at the Chancellor. Kim ignored him.

"Next, I'm destroying your field spell!" She slid another card into her disk, Mystical Space Typhoon. Kuriburrow was blown to pieces, and Ivar frowned. "And with my Chancellor's effect, I can destroy your Synchro monster!" Enishi pulled out his sword, which shined with green light. The old samurai charged and sliced Kuribarbarian in half.

"He can't attack this turn, but that doesn't matter. Because I'm summoning Kagemusha of the Six Samurai!" Kim's stoicness was starting to fade. The tuner looked at Enishi and they both nodded, before turning into Synchro rings. "I tune my monsters together to summon someone who may look familiar! Dragonprince Jalal!"

Golden light shined out of the summoning portal, and a majestic monster stepped forward. It was a handsome knight with golden hair, dressed in scarlet armor. He held his sword out, and had a look of authority on his face. (ATK 2500)

"So this is your boss' avatar." Ivar muttered, stroking his beard. Kim raised an eyebrow, waiting for her opponent to start hurling insults at Jalal. Much to her surprise, he remained quiet.

"Because I used two monsters to summon Jalal, he gains two Fortune Counters. But I'm going to remove both of those to activate his effect, which lets me draw an additional card." She picked up the top card of her deck, not looking at it. "I attack you directly with both my monsters!"

Jalal and Enishi crossed their swords, then slashed at Ivar, knocking him into his Duel Runner. "I set this card and end my turn."

Ivar was still for a moment, and Kim wondered if she had accidentally killed him. But soon enough, he got up, and let out a hardy laugh. "That was good, young lady. But now I have to finish this." He drew a card, silently.

"I activate Kuribeckoning!" He played a strange spell card, with a comical illustration. It depicted four Kuribohs, one of which Kim recognized as Kuriblocker. The others wore a cowboy hat, a karate sash, and a bishop's mitre. The one dressed as a bishop held up a sign that said "Emergency!" in all caps. "This rare card allows me to special summon as many Kuri monsters from my graveyard as possible, but all monsters I control are destroyed during the end phase!"

The five Kuriboh brothers reappeared, looking much less chipper than the first time around. "Step two of my grand plan, I tribute Kuriboh to summon a second Kuribull!" This Kuribull had steam coming from its invisible nose. "And step three, I tribute that to special summon Kuribat!"

Kuribull vanished, replaced by a completely black Kuriboh with tiny, adorable bat wings. "Kuribat's level increases by the level of the monster I tributed for this effect! And, as you may have guessed, it's a tuner!" Kuribat turned into six black stars, which seemed like a contradiction to Kim, and surrounded the other Kuris, turning them into more stars, ten in total.

"I Synchro Summon an avatar of _my_ employer!" Ivar cackled. "Kuribelial!" The stars collapsed, forming a black hole, and a large, menacing figure emerged. It looked like Winged Kuriboh LV 10, but... demonic, to put it simply. The wings were like those of a dragon, and the armor was silver, studded with a purple gem. The Kuriboh itself was pitch black, with red irises. (ATK 300)

Kim subconsciously reached for her sword. "Belial? Like the Archdevil? Is that who you work for?" She had been worried about dealing with the forces of Hell for a long time.

"Not in the slightest." Ivar shook his head. "The name is simply a coincidence. Now, let's get to its effect! When Kuribelial is summoned, it destroys the strongest monster on your field, and absorbs its power!" Bursts of shadowy energy shot out of the Synchro monster, attaching themselves to Jalal's card and covering him until he shattered. (ATK 2800)

"Not only that, but it deals you damage equal to the absorbed attack points!" Kuribelial faced Kim directly, and fired a beam of dark energy from the mouth of its dragon-like armor. She cried out in pain, feeling as if the life was being sucked out of her.

Kim fell to her knees, panting. "This really is a Shadow Duel."

"Yes." Ivar nodded. "Now finish her! Black Velvet Inferno!" The demonic Kuriboh blasted Enishi, but the attack was stopped dead in its tracks.

Kim stood up, her legs shaking, and pointed to her trap card. "Negate Attack keeps me safe for another round." She said, gripping her Duel Runner for support.

"It's your turn."

 **(KLP 900) - (ILP 2000)**

Kim drew, her hand trembling. She knew she had to win this turn. "I summon Shaman of the Six Samurai!" The old itako appeared again, muttering a prayer. "And I'll activate Star Changer, to increase her level by one!" Three stars hovered over Shaman, before changing to four.

"I tune my two monsters together to summon something strong enough to defeat your devil!" Enishi was surrounded by the synchro rings, which burst into bright light. The summoning portal opened up, and a new monster came out, landing on the ground in the traditional "superhero landing" pose.

It was a warrior in white, robotic armor, studded with blue gems. "I Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter!" (ATK 2800)

Ivar shielded his eyes from the light. "They're tied for attack scores."

"Not for long. Colossal Fighter gains 100 attack points for every Warrior monster in both of our graveyards!" The futuristic warrior flexed his muscles as his score rose to 3500. "Now attack his devil!"

Colossal Fighter's fists fired out like rockets, heading towards Kuribelial. The Fiend's eyes glowed, and a shield of dark energy surrounded it, but the punch went through, shattering the monster and sending a shockwave throughout the duel field, knocking both duelists over.

Kim managed to get to her feet, just in time to see the black hole Kuribelial had emerged from reappear. The silhouette turned to face Ivar, and its tails shot forward, impaling the cards in his hand, which vanished.

The dark dwarf stood up slowly, groaning. "When Kuribelial is destroyed, it takes every card in my hand with it." He sighed. "I suppose it's my turn now?"

Kim nodded, not sure what else to do.

Ivar drew a card and looked at it. "I'll play this monster to defend my life points." He said, setting a card.

Kim didn't bother to look at what she drew. "I summon Shien's Daredevil in attack mode." Her new monster was a Japanese warrior like the rest, but with slightly different armor. He was handsome, had a long ponytail, and clutched a sword in one hand (ATK 1600)

"My Daredevil attacks your facedown monster!" The ronin rushed across the battle field and sliced apart the set card, revealing it to be Sangan. Ivar simply shrugged. "And Colossal Fighter will finish this duel!" The rocket fists fired again, but Kim's opponent barely reacted.

 **(KLP 900) - (ILP 0)**

Ivar's obsidian necklace shattered, and the shadows covering the ally started to dissolve. Kim reached for the gemstone in her pocket, but before she could get to it, the shadows surrounded Ivar and swallowed him up.

There was no noise, no struggle, no slow descent. One minute he was there, the next he wasn't. It was a disturbing sight.

Kim stood and stared for a moment, not sure what to do. Then she quickly pulled out her cellphone and dialed a number. "Sabrina, are you okay?"

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **I hope you liked that chapter as much as I did!**

 **Next time, on Shadowchasers Nightfall, we return to Sabrina, and her fight against a duelist more hideous than his monsters!**

 **Join us in a chapter I like to call "Pestilence"!**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

Cards from the anime-

Five-Star Twilight: *the five Kuriboh brothers riding on multicolored stars*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Tribute 1 Level 5 monster. Special Summon 1 "Kuriboh", "Kuriba", "Kuribi", "Kuribe" and "Kuribu" from your hand or Deck. Monsters Special Summoned by this effect cannot be Tributed for a Tribute Summon.

0

Kuriba: *lavender Kuriboh*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- You can Tribute 1 each of "Kuribe", "Kuribi", "Kuriboh", "Kuribu", and this card you control to Special Summon 1 "Kuribabylon" from your hand, Deck, or GY.

0

Kuribe: *turquoise Kuriboh*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- You can Tribute 1 each of "Kuribe", "Kuribi", "Kuriboh", "Kuribu", and this card you control to Special Summon 1 "Kuribandit" from your hand, Deck, or GY.

0

Kuribi: *pink Kuriboh*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- Once per turn, if a face-up "Kuri" monster you control is selected as an attack target, you can negate that attack and reduce the attacking monster's ATK to 0.

0

Kuribu: *white Kuriboh*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- Once per turn, you can discard 1 Trap Card to select 1 face-up monster your opponent controls. That monster loses 1500 ATK until the End Phase.

0

Kuribabylon: *huge teal Kuriboh with one horn, purple eyes and fangs*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 5

ATK/DEF- ?/1000

Text- Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned by the effect of "Kuriba". This card's original ATK is equal to the combined ATK of the monsters Tributed to Summon it. During your Main Phase, or if this card's attack is negated, you can Tribute it, then Special Summon 1 "Kuriboh", "Kuriba", "Kuribi", "Kuribe" and "Kuribu" from your GY.

 **0-0-0**

Cards I invented-

Kuriblocker: *rust red, holding a shield*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 4

ATK/DEF- 0/2000

Text- If an opponent's monster declares a direct attack, you can negate the attack, then Special Summon this card in face-up Defense Position. You can only use this effect of "Kuriblocker" once per turn.

(The name and design of this card were created by MultiplePersonas, but I came up with the stats and effect)

0

Kuribat: *black furred Kuriboh with bat wings*

Card Type- Tuner Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- You can Special Summon this card from your hand by Tributing a face-up "Kuri" monster you control. If you do, increase this card's Level by the Level of the Tributed monster. This card cannot be used for a Synchro Summon, except the Synchro Summon of a "Kuri" monster.

0

Kuribelial: *demonic version of Winged Kuriboh LV10*

Card Type- Synchro Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 10

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- "Kuribat" + 2 or more non-Tuner "Kuri" monsters. When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can destroy the face-up monster your opponent controls with the highest ATK, (your choice if tied), and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's ATK. This card gains ATK & DEF equal to the damage your opponent takes from this effect. You can only control 1 "Kuribelial". This card cannot be destroyed by card effects. When this card is destroyed, send all cards in your hand and on your field to the GY.

(Dark Card)

0

Kuribarbarian: *huge, teal Kuriboh wearing a viking hat, with exceptionally large claws*

Card Type- Synchro Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 6

ATK/DEF- 2400/1600

Text- 1 "Kuri" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters. This card inflicts piercing damage. Each time you activate the effect of a "Kuri" monster, except "Kuribarbarian", increase this card's ATK by 300, until the End Phase. If this card destroys an opponent's monster in battle, you can add 1 "Kuri" Spell or Trap Card from your GY to your hand.

 **0-0-0**

Cards invented by other people-

Battlecry of the Six: *Irou and Nisashi charging at Goblin Attack Force*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Activate when a "Six Samurai" or "Shien" monster you control is destroyed by battle. Special Summon 1 "Six Samurai" monster from your hand or Deck with an equal or lower Level than that of the destroyed monster. The Special Summoned monster cannot use its effect this turn.

Credit: This card was made by Occam's Razor, and first appeared in Power Primordial.

0

Kuribeckoning: *Kuriblocker, Kuribuckaroo and Kuriblackbelt staring at Kuribishop, which is running forward, panicked, and holding a sign that reads "EMERGENCY!"*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- You can only activate this card if you have 5 or more "Kuri" monsters in your GY. Special Summon as many Level 1 "Kuri" monsters from your GY as possible, in face-up Attack Position. During your End Phase, destroy all face-up monsters you control.

0

Kuriburrow: *field full of holes, similar to a prairie dog village, with Kuribohs poking their heads out*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Field

Text- All "Kuri" monsters gain 500 ATK. Once per turn, you can target 1 Level 1 "Kuri" monster in your GY and add it to your hand. You cannot activate that monster's effect this turn.

0

Kuribrain: *grey Kuriboh with wild hair, glasses, and a small toothbrush mustache*

Card Type- Tuner Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- During your Main Phase, if this card is in your GY because it was used to Synchro Summon a "Kuri" monster, you can Special Summon this card in face-up Defense Position, but Banish it when it leaves the field.

0

Kuribull: *large, bright red Kuriboh with horns and a nosering*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 5

ATK/DEF- 2100/1400

Text- You can Normal Summon this card without a Tribute. If you do, destroy it during the End Phase.

0

Kuribenefactor: *golden, female Kuriboh carrying a briefcase*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fiend

Attribute- DARK

Level- 1

ATK/DEF- 300/200

Text- During your Main Phase, you can discard this card from your hand, then draw 2 cards. After this effect resolves, reveal your hand to your opponent. You can only use this effect of "Kuribenefactor" once per turn.

Credit: These cards were all created by MultiplePersonas, and first appeared in "Shadowchasers Miscellaneous Files"


	9. Pestilence

I've seen a lot of scary stuff in my life. Especially after I became a Shadowchaser. Eldritch abominations, cannibal fish people, killer robots...

But the opponent I'm about to face might just be the scariest.

0-0-0-0-0

Draw 09 - Pestilence

0-0-0-0-0

Two years ago

This was not how Sabrina expected her day to go. All she wanted to do was waste a few hours at River City's only nerd/hobby shop, The Fungeon, but that plan had been ruined when she was assaulted by, of all things, a werewolf.

"Keep quiet, kid, and this won't end with your guts all over the floor." The wolfman said, placing one clawed hand over Sabrina's mouth, pulling her into the dark alley way. "Empty out your pockets and your purse, and I'll be on my way." His breath smelled like raw meat. His hands were the size of catcher's mitts. Most people would've screamed.

But Sabrina wasn't most people. She considered herself pretty brave. She came out to her parents on her birthday, and paid for her own name change. This wasn't even her first encounter with a monster. She'd seen them all her life, although she'd avoided them as much as possible.

Half-expecting to have her face clawed off, Sabrina bit down on the smelly werewolf's hand, and dug her heels into his foot. He let go of her and howled in pain, letting out enough expletives and slurs to make a YouTube comment section blush. The blonde turned and ran, wanting to get as far away as possible.

She almost immediately ran into someone, though. A handsome, redheaded young man with dark, copper skin and bright red hair. Looking closely, she noticed he had a sword hanging from his belt. Who carries a sword anymore? This isn't the Renaissance Fair!

"Don't worry, I'm here to help." The man said, moving Sabrina aside and drawing his sword. "Hey, Randy, are you that desperate to go back to prison?" He talked to the werewolf as if he knew him.

"I just needed a little extra cash to pay the rent, is all." Randy the werewolf replied. He snarled and bared his fangs. "Afraid I don't have any cards on me, so we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." And he pounced.

Sabrina wasn't sure what she expected, but what happened next definitely wasn't it. The redhead young man simply put his sword down and spoke in a language that sounded like running water. Before Randy could react, a geyser of water burst through the manhole in the middle of the street. With another strange word, the geyser, defying all logic, bent over and knocked him into the wall, before dying and leaving the alley soaking wet.

"You're forgetting, old man." The redhead said, pulling a small blue gem out of his pocket. "We live on an island. I'm a fishblood, controlling water is second nature to me. I might only know two spells, but that's all I need." A pale blue light consumed the old werewolf, who vanished completely.

"What just happened?" Sabrina asked, not sure why she wasn't running away. "Who are you?"

The redhead sighed and scratched his neck, causing his jacket's collar to slip. Sabrina noticed three thin, black lines on each side, almost resembling gills. "My name's Caspian, and you've got a lot of stuff to learn."

0-0-0

Sabrina didn't intend on doing any work today. She got on her Duel Runner and headed straight for the Mekong district, the nicer part of River City. She was wearing a Fantasy Costco t-shirt and biker shorts, with a trans pride flag pin in her jacket, letting her blonde hair fly free behind her.

Hitting a button on her Duel Runner's dashboard, Sabrina turned on the built-in phone. "Hey Coral, get the popcorn ready, I'm bringing over the box set!" She said excitedly, ready to take a personal day and watch old anime with her best friend. It went straight to the answering machine, but Sabrina shrugged it off as her friend being busy with something else.

The blonde girl pulled up in front of a large house with green shutters and a bright green door. This was the home of the Pattons, a well off family whose daughter Sabrina had befriended. The Shadowchaser pulled her helmet off and knocked, using the snake-shaped doorknocker that made the Patton house stand out.

No one answered, which Sabrina found odd. She picked up her cellphone and tried calling again, getting annoyed. "Are you there? You told me you had the day off!"

After several minutes, there was a text. "Come around back." Shrugging, Sabrina jumped over the fence and entered the Pattons' large backyard, which was mostly a garden that Mrs. Patton spent all her free time attending to. Walking through the massive collection of flowers, exotic plants and topiary, she couldn't help but notice that the garden was kind of a wreck. There were pots strewn across the ground, shattered flower vases, and other signs of a fight.

Sabrina cursed and drew her sword, wishing she could finally take a day off without something forcing her to do her job. "Coral, are you there? It's me, Sabrina, I'm here to help you!"

There was a muffled screaming noise, and someone stepped out from behind the largest tree in the yard. No, not someone. Something was a better description. It was around seven feet tall, humanoid in shape, and incredibly muscular. Its arms had scaly skin, its exposed feet were clawed and bird-like, its eyes were yellow with slit pupils, and its teeth... they looked like they had come from a shark. Worst of all, the monster had a hostage. A skinny young Snakeblooded girl with short brown hair and greyish scales: Sabrina's friend Coral.

"A khimera!" Sabrina took a step back, raising her sword. She had heard of these Shadowkind before, but never seen one in person. They were humanoid, but could integrate body parts from animals they kill.

"Calm down, girlie, I'm not going to hurt you... yet." The khimera was a man, with a deep, gravely voice. His face was ugly and scarred, likely from the creatures he'd killed.

"Put her down, now." Sabrina assumed a fighting stance, preparing to cut off the khimera's arms unless he complied.

"My name is Keith, so use it." He said, one hand clamped over Coral's mouth to keep her silent, the other holding her body.

"Keith? That's not a very scary name." Sabrina forgot for a moment that she was about to attack him. Keith frowned and dropped Coral on the ground, producing a black pendant from his back pocket. "You're a member of the Ebon Sun!"

"That's right, and I'm using your friend to make sure you duel me." Keith pulled out a large, black Duel Disk and strapped it to one of his freakishly muscular arms, placing a deck in the slot. "If you lose, I'm taking your soul for Mama Killa, and moving on to your friends. If I lose... well, I won't be around to bother you anymore."

"Fine." Sabrina sighed, setting her backpack down and activating her Duel Disk. "I made a few changes to my deck recently, I guess this is as good a time as ever to test it out."

(Keith LP 8000) - (Sabrina LP 8000)

The two duelists were surrounded by a malicious, black aura, hiding everything from sight except the backyard they were dueling in. Sabrina bit her lip nervously, this really was a Shadow Game.

"I'll make the first move." Keith drew his opening hand. "I set a monster, and then I'll activate the effect of Darklord Ixchel. By discarding her and Darklord Marie from my hand, I can draw two cards." He adjusted his hand, then set two cards. "That should do it for now. Your move, kid."

"I'm an adult, first of all." Sabrina glared, drawing a card. "First off, I'm activating Harpie Queen's effect! By discarding her, I can add a certain field spell from my deck to my hand." She placed the card in her Duel Disk's discard slot, and pressed a button on the touchscreen, causing a new card to pop out of her deck.

"I summon Harpie Spy!" A new harpie flew onto the battlefield. She had black feathers and wore a black tank top, her short white hair blowing in the wind that seemed to appear out of nowhere. (1600 ATK) "And when I do that, I can special summon a low level Harpie from my deck, like my Cyber Harpie Lady!" The redheaded, armored monster made famous by Mai Kujaku appeared, brandishing her whip. (1800 ATK)

"From your deck? That doesn't seem very fair." Keith raised an eyebrow. The irony of the situation was not lost on Sabrina. Asking for fairness when he was holding her friend hostage.

"Her effect only works when she's normal summoned, and it stops me from summoning non-Wind monsters for the rest of the turn." She explained. "Next, I'm using Monster Reborn to bring back Harpie Queen!" This harpie was dressed all in blue, wore her long green hair in a ponytail, and had swan-like white feathers. (1900 ATK)

"Now to set the stage. I activate Harpie's Grand Aviary!" The Pattons' backyard changed into an enormous field filled with green plants, rocks and birds of all kinds. Sabrina's harpies seemed excited, spreading their wings and taking flight. "This field spell gives all Wind monsters 300 extra points to both scores!" ((ATK 1600 - 1900) (ATK 1800 - 2100) (ATK 1900 - 2200))

"Spy, attack his facedown monster!" The ninja-like harpie brandished her talons and swooped down on the hidden opponent, which flipped up before it was destroyed, showing a small, brown monster with three large eyes.

"Thanks to Sangan's effect, I can add Burning Algae to my hand." Keith said, shuffling his deck. He barely had time to look up from his cards before Harpie Queen and Cyber Harpie Lady attacked him, slashing and whipping him furiously. He grunted, his shirt being torn by the effects of the Shadow Game, revealing a scaly chest.

"I activate Sakuretsu Armor!" One of his set cards lifted up, but it quickly shattered, having no effect.

"My field spell protects all Harpie monsters from being destroyed by card effects." Sabrina explained. "I end my turn. Bring it, freak."

(KLP 3700) - (SLP 8000)

"I'm done playing around, kid." Keith drew a card, as a small circle of darkness opened up above them, breaking through the blue sky caused by Harpie's Grand Aviary. A black skinned, angelic figure descended onto the field, spreading large, black wings. The monster was clearly female, indicated by the pink dress it was wearing. "Darklord Marie's effect activates, giving me 200 extra life points."

"I still don't understand why she's wearing a pink dress." Sabrina commented, as Marie blew golden dust onto the khimera. "What is she based on, anyways?"

"Don't know, don't care." Keith replied, playing a monster. "I summon another card I'm sure you've heard of, Darklord Nurse Reficule!" And he was right, Sabrina had heard of this one. A tall, lanky fair with bladed wings, wearing a dress made entirely out of bandages. Her long, purple hair covered most of her face, and each lock ended in a blade. (ATK 1400)

"Well shit." Sabrina cursed, very familiar with this monster. That fallen angel would turn any life points she gained into damage. Keith activated his trap card, The Paths of Destiny. A coin appeared in Sabrina's hand, and she tossed it, knowing that the result didn't matter this time. It was Tails.

The blonde Shadowchaser screamed as a black aura surrounded her. The pain was hard to describe. It felt like she had contracted some kind of virus, one that rapidly increased in intensity and then suddenly stopped. Sabrina's body was shaking, her heart pounding, and she felt nauseous. She took a few deep breaths, removing the choker she normally wore and placing it in her jacket pocket.

Keith smiled wickedly as his coin landed on Heads, and a golden aura washed over him, increasing his life points by the same amount Sabrina lost. "I'm not done yet. I equip my nurse with Mist Body, so she can't be destroyed in battle." Wisps of white mist wrapped around Reficule's body before vanishing completely.

"I'll also activate Card Destruction! So we both toss our entire hands, then draw the same number of cards! And one of my cards was Burning Algae, which means you gain 1000 life points!" Reficule spread her wings, and black feathers began to fall over the Shadowchaser. "Infectious Wrath!"

Sabrina gritted her teeth, trying to prepare herself for the pain, but it was entirely different than before. She was burning, as if she had a high fever, and everything itched. Her legs were shaking when it ended, and she replaced her hand. The mood brightened a bit when Sabrina saw Harpie's Pet Dragon among the three cards she drew. Sure, she couldn't summon it right away, but it was a very welcome sight.

"I'm guessing this is part of the Shadow Game?" Sabrina asked, distracting herself by talking. "Is your monster actually making me sick?" Keith nodded, looking over his new cards.

"Got it in one try!" He grinned, a disturbing sight. "What's the most powerful killing force in the world? I'll answer for you. Germs." He began counting on his clawed fingers. "AIDS, scarlet fever, the plague, cancer... You can hide from a hitman or a natural disaster, but you can't run from something that's inside your own body!"

Sabrina had contemplated how she would die before. She always assumed it would be the one time she lost a duel against some big evil force. But disease? That had never crossed her mind.

"I'm not finished yet." Keith interrupted Sabrina's thoughts, playing yet another card. "Ego Boost will make my nurse just strong enough to beat your Harpie Queen!" Reficule's hair transformed into tentacles, lashing out and slicing the Queen with their bladed ends.

"Now I'm done."

Sabrina drew a card and bit her lip nervously. Both my monsters are stronger than his, but I can't get rid of Mist Body yet... Her hand contained Trap Stun, Reckless Greed, Harpie's Pet Dragon and Split Mirrors of Seduction. None of them really helped at this time.

Looking down at her Duel Disk, Sabrina noticed that the icon for the Extra Deck was flashing. Wait, I've got it! She smiled, sighing with relief.

"I'm building the Overlay Network!" The familiar, cosmic portal opened at her feet, and both Harpies flew in. "With two level four monsters, I can summon something that no Xyz deck should be without! Castel the Skyblaster Musketeer!" The portal closed, releasing a humanoid, purple feathered Winged Beast dressed like a Spanish musketeer. It was even carrying an old fashioned rifle. (ATK 2000)

"And he gets a boost from my field spell, since he's a Wind monster!" Castel cawed in approval as his attack points rose to 2300. "But what's important right now is his effect! By detaching both Overlay Units, Castel can send Nurse Ratchet over there all the way back to your deck!" Castel cocked his rifle and fired, a bullet of pure light hitting Reficule straight in the chest. But, instead of shattering into pixels, she vanished entirely.

"You little-!" Keith's curse was cut short as Castel attacked for real, shooting him in the leg. He hissed, his pants being torn from the bullet.

"I set two cards and end my turn." Sabrina was glaring daggers at her opponent. "This duel is far from over."

(KLP 3600) - (SLP 4800)

Keith drew a card, the grimace on his face showing his disappointment. "First I get 200 more Life Points from Marie, then I'm activating Darklord Contact!" A ladder, of all things, sprouted from the ground. It looked like it was made of dull iron. "This lets me revive Darklord Ixchel in defense mode!"

A monster climbed up the ladder and onto the field. It was an attractive, busty angel in a silvery mini-dress. She had long, black and purple hair, and four black wings. They resembled bat wings, but also seemed to have feathers growing on them. (DEF 2900)

"She'll make a decent wall until I draw what I need." The khimera waved his hand, showing that his turn was over.

Sabrina drew, and frowned. "I activate Reckless Greed, so I get two more draws, but I have to skip my next two draw phases!" She picked up the top two cards of her deck, hoping one of them was Hysteric Party.

Neither of them were. She quickly started formulating a back up plan. "I summon Mist Valley Soldier!" Once again, Sabrina's monster seemed to fly down from one of the many trees in the aviary. This one was humanoid, clearly a man, with bulging muscles and black hair tied into a ponytail. He was dressed in a blue cloak and a loincloth that seemed to be of Native American design. He also had two enormous feathered wings. (ATK 1700)

"Handsome fella, isn't he?" Sabrina smiled. "And useful too! If he battles a monster, and it isn't destroyed, it gets sent right back to the hand!" Soldier drew two kukri knives and flew towards Ixchel, slicing at her. She shielded herself with her wings, and slapped the Winged Beast across the face.

"The extra attack points my field spell gives him softens the blow a little." The blonde Shadowchaser's grin grew wider as she watched the fallen angel vanish. "But nothing's going to soften this!" Castel fired his musket, knocking Keith over.

"You're gonna lose next turn, creep, unless you can beat both my monsters by then."

(KLP 1500) - (SLP 3900)

"I activate Heaven's Lost Property!" Keith played the card as soon as he drew it. "This spell works exactly like Graceful Charity, only its effect applies to you too." Sabrina was grateful for that. She discarded Flying Kamakiri and Harpie's Pet Dragon.

"Now I can finally end this!" The khimera's black sun pendant began to glow an unearthly purple color. "I play Polymerization, and fuse Nurse Reficule with Injection Fairy Lily!" The fusion portal appeared above him, and the two familiar monsters were pulled in. "I Fusion Summon the last monster you'll ever see! Death Injector Reficule!"

A sinister-looking female monster stepped out of the portal. She looked just like Reficule, with the same bladed hair and demonic wings, but she was dressed in a pitch black nurse's uniform, with a skirt that was way too short to get past I2's censors. She wore a glove on her left hand, with syringes for fingers. (ATK 1800)

The sky above Harpie's Grand Aviary was filled with storm clouds, which was something Sabrina had never seen before. "What's she do?" Sabrina took a step back, and her monsters moved to defend her, crossing blade and musket.

"She has the same effect as the regular Reficule, plus a special extra one." Keith replied, pointing at Mist Valley Soldier. Reficule smiled coldly and stabbed him with her glove, causing him to explode. "She can destroy any monster, and then we both gain life points equal to its attack points!"

Sabrina almost fainted from the damage, but Castel put a hand on her back. "Thank you." She said, wondering if he could speak. Duel monsters became so lifelike during Shadow Games, but Sabrina was never sure how living they were. The Winged Beast simply nodded.

"I have to skip my draw phase because of Reckless Greed." Sabrina looked at the cards she had, and quickly set two of them. "That's all I can do for now."

(KLP 3700) - (SLP 1900)

Keith glowed as Marie the Fallen One's effect activated. He drew a card, and played it immediately. "I activate Mystic Plasma Zone!" Nothing about the scenery changed, but Sabrina doubted the field spell would have looked differently than their current Shadow Game. "This gives all Dark monsters 500 extra attack points, just in case you find a way around Reficule's effect." His Nurse's attack increased to 2300.

"Now, finish her off with Lethal Injection!" Death Injector Reficule slashed at Castel with her glove.

"I activate Scrap Iron Scarecrow!" A metal stick figure covered with various bits of junk shot up between the two monsters, taking the attack before vanishing. "My trap negates your attack, and sets itself back down." Sabrina let out a deep breath, wiping her brow.

Keith growled, clenching his fist. "You bought yourself another turn. All I need to do is draw Mystical Space Typhoon, and you're dead."

Sabrina's heart was beating. She still had to skip her Draw Phase, and she needed a new plan. Damn it, I knew I should've sprung for Card of Variation!

"I attack Reficule with Castel!" Sabrina shut her eyes and hoped that her theory was right. There was an explosion, and the familiar sound of sinister whispers that always accompanied a Dark Card battling. When Sabrina opened her eyes, both monsters were gone.

"I was right! Your fusion can only use her effect when she's attacking, not when I attack her!" She felt like jumping in the air, until she remembered the duel was still going on. "I'll summon Harpie Channeler to defend my life points!" The redhead harpie priestess appeared, brandishing her scepter like a spear. (ATK 1700)

(KLP 3900) - (SLP 1900)

Keith drew, and nearly crushed his cards. "Make your move." He hissed.

Sabrina placed her hand on top of her deck, and slowly drew a card. I need to win on this turn! She would've prayed if she had any idea what god to pray to.

"I activate Phalanx Pike!" A large, golden spear appeared in Channeler's hand, and she cawed excitedly. "This is one equip card no Harpie deck should ever be without! It gives my Channeler 900 extra attack points for every monster in the graveyard with the same name as her! And since basically every Harpie monster is treated as Harpie Lady while on the field or in the grave, I have three!"

Ghostly images of Harpie Queen, Harpie Spy and Cyber Harpie appeared, and placed their hands on Channeler's shoulders, nodding in unison. The Winged Beast's attack rose to 4400, and she aimed the pike at Keith's heart. "Attack!"

A beam of golden light fired from the tip of Phalanx Pike, and the khimera roared when it hit him. The entire field was swallowed in pure light, and by the time it faded, the duel was over and Keith was nowhere to be seen.

(KLP 0) - (SLP 1900)

"Coral, are you okay?" Sabrina rushed over to her fallen friend, having lost sight of her during the duel. The Ophidia groaned and slowly sat up, opening her bright blue eyes. She squeaked in surprise when her friend hugged her tightly, still not sure what had happened.

"Why am I so dizzy?" She asked, both girls standing up and brushing off their clothes. Sabrina laughed and promised to explain everything after they got something to eat.

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I'd like to apologize for the delay on this chapter. Work and college are really kicking my butt.

Next time, we get some insight into Caspian's past, and a new main character!

Tune in for "Power Bond"!

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Anime/Manga original cards-

Heaven's Lost Property: *peasants rejoicing as white feathers fall from the sky*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Both players draw 3 cards, then discard 2. You can only activate 1 "Heaven's Lost Property" each turn.

First Used: GX manga, chapter 42

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Cards invented by someone else-

Death Injector Reficule: *Nurse Reficule in a low cut nurse dress; her left hand is gloved and has syringes on the fingers*

Card Type- Fusion Monster

Monster Type- Fairy

Attribute- DARK

Level- 8

ATK/DEF- 1800/2400

Text- "Nurse Reficule the Fallen One" + "Injection Fairy Lily". This card can only be Special Summoned by Fusion Summon, and only with the above listed Fusion Material Monsters. Any effect that would cause your opponent to gain Life Points instead inflicts the same amount of damage to your opponent. When this card attacks a monster, destroy that monster without applying Damage Calculation, and both players gain Life Points equal to that monster's ATK.

(Dark Card)

Credit: This card was invented by fanfic author Metal Overlord 2.0, and first appeared in "Shadowchasers Ascension"

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Cards I invented-

Harpie Spy: *black feathered harpie with white hair*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Winged Beast

Level- 4

Attribute- WIND

ATK/DEF- 1600/1000

Text- This card's name is treated as "Harpie Lady" while it's on the field or in the GY. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Harpie" monster from your Deck in face-up Attack Position. You cannot Special Summon other monsters the turn you use this effect, except WIND monsters.

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Harpie's Grand Aviary: *massive rocky field, filled with birds of all kinds*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Field

Text- This card's name is always treated as "Harpie's Hunting Ground". All WIND monsters gain 300 ATK & DEF. Once per turn, if you Special Summon a "Harpie" monster, you can Banish 1 "Formation" Spell/Trap from your GY, then target 1 card on the field and destroy it. If this card is destroyed by an opponent's card effect, you can shuffle all of your Banished "Formation" Spell/Trap Cards into your Deck. "Harpie" monsters cannot be destroyed by card effects.


	10. Power Bond

(Just a heads up, I've never tried writing drama before... I'd also like to thank my friend Ryan, who created Kennedy.)

 _Dating is hard when you have to keep a secret from your partner. That's why it's so rare for Shadowkind to mix with humans._

 _Being half human myself, most of my boyfriends were humans. And most weren't Aware, so I could never be completely honest with them._

 _There was one guy, though. A Turbo Duelist, who I met years ago. We definitely could've made it work... But something got in the way of our relationship._

 _Why am I telling you about my love life? Because it's coming back to haunt me._

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 **Draw 10 - Power Bond**

 **0-0-0-0-0**

 _Five years ago_

It was August 10th in Maui. Most kids were enjoying their summer vacation. But, right outside the Maui Arts and Culture Center, the final round of the Maui Duel Monsters Championship was underway.

The player on the left of the arena was clearly a native Hawaiian. He was an attractive, if somewhat feminine, young man with scarlet red hair, dressed like a surfer. He had 1800 life points left, and one card in his hand. On his field, he had Shard of Greed active, two set cards, and Ronintoadin in defense position (DEF 2000)

On the right was another young man, this one Caucasian. He had amber eyes and messy brown hair, and wore a cowboy hat. He had 3000 life points, two cards in his hand, and his field was empty, except for a field spell, Revolving Switchyard. The dueling arena had transformed into a train station because of this.

"I gotta admit, Caspian, you're makin' this duel a lot more fun than I expected." The brunet chuckled, winking flirtatiously. He drew a card and whistled. "Looks like our fun's all over, though! I summon Night Express Knight!" A light lit up above one of the Switchyard's tunnels, and a train drove in. It was sparkling white and gold, with the pilot car shaped like the head of a horse. On top of it was half of a knight, carrying a shield and a lance. (ATK 3000)

"When I do that, its attack points drop to 0. But that's okay, because my field spell lets me special summon a level 4 Machine from my deck, and make it level 10!" Another train appeared, this time a solo car. It was bright red, with an angry looking face. (ATK 1800) "So meet Ruffian Railcar!"

"I activate my trap!" Caspian said, one of his set cards lifting up. The artwork depicted a humanoid creature made of slime, reattaching its arm while a confused knight chopped at it with his sword. "It's called Rejuvenating Slime! By discarding one Slime monster from my hand, I gain life points equal to your monster's attack." He discarded the only card in his hand, and sighed with relief as his life points increased to 3600.

"And since that card was Draw Slime, I get to draw one card." He did so, then nodded. "You talk a big game, Kennedy, but can you back it up? You know what they say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

"Trust me, darlin', my trains are just like me. They can take a hit, and hit you back even harder!" Kennedy replied, adjusting his hat. "I don't know why a duelist as pretty as you would wanna use cards as ugly as Frogs and Slimes." He hit a button on his Duel Disk, and a swirling vortex opened up in front of him. "I overlay my two level 10 monsters, and Xyz Summon the Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max!" The two trains vanished, only to be replaced by an even bigger machine.

It was a railway gun, essentially an enormous tank mounted onto a train, with a barrel so long it reached the ceiling. (ATK 3000, OU 2) "Everything's bigger in Texas, love! You might not take any battle damage this turn thanks to my Revolving Switchyard, but I can still burn you for 2000 using Gustav Max's effect!" The cowboy grabbed one of the cards underneath his Xyz and placed it in his Duel Disk's discard slot. The giant Machine absorbed one of its Overlay Units, and fired, shaking the arena as if it were real.

"Now attack!" Gustav Max lowered its barrel and fired again, blowing the tiny samurai toad to smithereens. Caspian grunted and tapped two buttons on his Duel Disk's screen.

"I activate Call of the Haunted to revive my Ronintoadin, and chain activate Inferno Reckless Summon!" The toad reappeared, and was quickly joined by three much larger frogs. "Because Ronintoadin is treated as Des Frog while on the field, my spell lets me summon all three Des Frogs from my deck!" The amphibians croaked happily. (ATK 1900 x3)

"It's your move." Kennedy nodded, setting two cards. "You better make it count, Cassy, 'cause it looks like I'm finally gonna end your winning streak." Caspian blushed at the use of his nickname, his face turning as red as his hair. He shook it off and drew a card, looking at his hand.

"It's been two turns since I activated Shard of Greed, so now I can send it to the graveyard to draw twice!" The Pot of Greed appeared briefly before shattering, letting out a mad laugh. "I got just what I needed! I activate one of my strongest spell cards, Des Croaking!"

The three Des Frogs began to croak in unison, which wasn't a pleasant sound. Ronintoadin joined them, but its voice was drowned out by the others. Kennedy covered his ears as his set cards lifted, revealing themselves to be Mirror Force and Special Schedule, before shattering. His field spell and monster did the same, exploding into a shower of pixels. "When I have three Des Frogs on the field, Des Croaking wipes out all your cards!"

"And that's not all. Polymerization will fuse my froggy friends into the ultimate amphibian, D.3.S. Frog!" The frogs vanished into the familiar swirling lights of Polymerization, replaced by a much larger, fatter frog, with a dark green hide and pale colored whiskers. It croaked loudly, staring down at Kennedy with its round, red eyes. (ATK 2500)

"This is your last rodeo, Cowboy." Caspian teased, as D.3.S. Frog became enveloped with a burning battle aura. "My fusion monster gains 500 attack points for every Treeborn Frog in my graveyard, and I have two! Attack directly!" The giant amphibian's ATK rose to 3500, and it opened its mouth wide, blasting Kennedy with a torrent of swamp water. The brunet cringed, glad this was just a hologram.

"And just like that, it's over! And our winner is Kahului local Caspian Kalani!" The announcer cheered into his microphone. The crowd went wild, and the handsome Hawaiian man turned to face his opponent.

"Guess you were right, Cassy." The cowboy walked over to shake his opponent's hand. "There really is such a thing as home field advantage in Duel Monsters."

Caspian and Kennedy had been fierce rivals since they first met, at the beginning of summer. Their competitive natures made them excellent opponents for each other, and was what eventually lead to their romance.

"Let's get away from the crowd." Caspian grabbed the Texan's hand, looking at the mass of locals and tourists alike who wanted to get a picture with the new champion. "I want to talk to you, alone." He ran past the judges' table, leaving his trophy and prize money behind, and dragged his boyfriend onto the beach. There was a secret spot only the two of them knew about, their favorite spot for a date. The wind was low, the sun was setting, and the tide had gone down. It was the perfect romantic setting.

"You're not pregnant, are ya?" Kennedy half joked. He was an Aware, but his knowledge of Shadowkind could be summed up in one sentence: They existed. "You can tell me anything, sugar." He locked eyes with his boyfriend, seeing the worry in them.

"My family's moving, and I have to come with them." The merman sighed. "I begged my dad not to, I even asked if I could live in the merfolk village with my grandmother. But he wouldn't have it." Caspian stared at the sand.

Kennedy's heart fell. The two boys were both only seventeen years old, still too young to live on their own without parents permission. Kennedy didn't even live in Hawaii, he was just on summer vacation. "I bought this for you at a card shop, it's not the best card, but I hope it keeps me in your thoughts after you move."

He reached into his pocket and handed Caspian a card wrapped in protective foil. The redhead looked at it and smiled sadly, hugging his boyfriend tight. "I love you."

 **0-0-0**

 _A year later_

Caspian swam through River City's harbor, having finally gotten used to his new home. He spent most of his time in the merfolk village, practicing what little magic he knew and flirting with fishermen.

He found his favorite hang out, the fishing spot of a particularly superstitious fisherman with an Aware daughter who absolutely loved mermaids. She was always good for a conversation, even if she was 12. But the familiar houseboat wasn't there today. In its place was a wooden rowboat and a Night Hag.

Night Hags were evil spirits who represented the ugly side of nature, just like nymphs represented its beauty. They were short, wrinkly creatures with hooked noses, long and incredibly bony fingers, and inhuman purple skin, the color of a bruise. This particular night hag had seaweed in her hair, and was muttering to herself. "Lorelei thinks she's so powerful... Let's see how strong she is once half her subjects are dead."

Caspian saw the black crystal the Night Hag was holding in her claws, and immediately knew she was up to no good. Night Hags hated beauty in all forms, and were known for causing pollution and forest fires out of spite. " _Shape Water_!" Caspian cast one of his two spells, forming a large fist out of saltwater. It lunged and snatched the crystal out of the hag's hands, before changing into a bubble to contain the mysterious gem.

"A merman? Stealing from Old Nancy?" Her eyes lit up with malice. "Well, if it's a battle of spells you want..." She chanted in an eldritch language, causing the crystal to melt into a vile looking black goo. "How long can you keep my poison out of the water, pretty boy? And how long can you live, knowing that you're responsible for the deaths of countless merfolk?"

Caspian looked Nancy in the eye and made a single hand gesture, flinging the ball of polluted water into the Night Hag's face. She roared and spewed expletives in a language Caspian couldn't understand. "You impudent little brat!" Nancy managed to open her stone grey eyes, now burning with rage, and swiped at the merman with her talon-like nails. "I'll kill you first, then send your body to your queen!"

"You're not killing anyone, Nancy Meatcracker." A third person entered the scene. Caspian turned his head and saw a human girl, Asian with shoulder length black hair, wearing a red jacket and pointing a sword at Nancy's face. She was a Shadowchaser! "I'll take it from here." She turned to Caspian and nodded confidently.

Caspian dove underwater, deciding to watch from a safe distance. He'd never seen a Shadowchaser up close before, but now that he had, he was starting to reconsider how he spent his free time...

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 _Modern day_

Caspian mounted his Duel Runner and drove out to the beach, needing some time to himself. It was five years to the day since he moved to River City, and although he had found friends here, there was still something he missed. Some _one_.

He'd dated several men after Kennedy, mostly mermen, but these relationships never lasted very long. Too emotional, not emotional enough, more attracted to himself than to Caspian... there was always some problem that ended their relationship before it got serious. Caspian was starting to get a reputation among the gay dating scene in River City, and not a good one.

River City Beach was always full, and its boardwalk busy. Tourists buying Drunken Sailor shirts (the local businesses loved profiting off the city's embarrassing origin story), little kids buying ice cream with their parents' money, attractive people suntanning. It reminded Caspian of Maui, which was comforting. He drove over to the outskirts, which had a nice view of the ocean. He planned to strip down and jump in so he could spend the day swimming, but something caught his eye.

A bright silver Duel Runner, with lightning yellow streaks, was heading straight towards him. The driver was wearing a matching uniform, and a helmet that obscured their face. There was a bag hanging from the side of the vehicle, which made it somewhat less menacing. Caspian was confused, but took a step back and reached for his sword. "Who are you and what do you want with me?" He asked, once the mysterious duelist was within earshot.

"Don't ya recognize me, Cassy?" A very familiar voice replied. Removing his helmet, the rider revealed himself to be someone Caspian never expected to see again. "Wait, let me try this." Kennedy reached into his bag and pulled out a cowboy hat, the kind he wore back in Maui. He was taller than he had been, which was to be expected, and now had a small scar running down his cheek, and the beginnings of a beard.

Caspian put a hand to his heart, feeling it thump loudly. "What are you doing here?" Not that he wasn't happy to see his old flame, but it was weird. And he wasn't ruling out the possibility of this being an illusion, a shapeshifting incubus, or some other kind of supernatural happening.

"I live here now, have for three days. I made a bunch of money in the pro circuits, and decided to track you down." Kennedy explained, winking flirtatiously. "I missed you, Cassy, and I want to pick up where we left off. Starting with..." He detached his Duel Disk from his Runner and strapped it onto his arm, activating it.

"Of course that's what you want." Caspian laughed and activated his own Duel Disk, thinking about how much he missed Kennedy's energy. "I should warn you, I'm a Shadowchaser now. I'm a lot stronger than I was before."

 **(Caspian LP 8000) - (Kennedy LP 8000)**

"I'll take the first turn!" Caspian drew a card, playing it right away. "Heaven's Lost Property works just like Graceful Charity, but you get to draw as well." Both boys drew three cards, then discarded two.

"I'll keep going with the spell cards for now. I play Soul Absorption! So every time a card is banished, I get 500 life points!" The continuous spell appeared before him, but he was hardly done. "I activate Polymerization! I fuse Sea Steel Piranha and Sea Steel Thorn Starfish! _Biting fish and spiky creature, combine your powers and bring forth a greater monster!_ I fusion summon Sea Steel Tiger Shark!"

The summoning portal opened up over the ocean, and out swam an enormous shark, with real tiger stripes. Like Caspian's other fusions, it was wearing a sunken vehicle of some kind as armor, specifically a submarine. (ATK 2700)

"I guess that makes it my turn, darlin'." Kennedy looked over his seven cards, and smiled. "Those are some neat new cards you got there, but that won't stop me from finally beatin' you. I summon Night Express Knight!" The shimmering knight-train hybrid appeared, its attack points dropping to zero. "I've got a couple of new cards too! If all my monsters are Earth attribute, which they are, I can special summon Super Express Bullet Train!"

A whistle sounded, and a train Caspian had never seen before rushed onto the field, driving on railroad tracks that suddenly appeared. It looked like a combination of a Japanese bullet train and a rocket ship, with an arrow-sharp head and a blue body. (ATK 3000)

"Now I can Xyz Summon! I overlay my two level 10 monsters! Make way for the monster train that gonna derail your chances of winning! Chug on in, Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max!" Caspian was very familiar with this card, it had always been Kennedy's favorite monster. But it seemed bigger and shinier than usual, somehow. (ATK 3000; OU 2)

"That's a pretty big cannon." Caspian looked up at the machine, which towered over the field. "You compensating for something, cowboy?"

"You already know the answer to that, sweetheart." Kennedy chuckled. "Or do I need to show you after I win this?" Caspian's face turned as red as his hair. "I'm gonna go ahead and activate Gustav Max's effect, by ditching one Overlay Unit, he blasts you for 2000 points of damage!" The enormous rail cannon fired, and Caspian thanked every god he could think of that Solid Vision had multiple settings, otherwise he'd be fish-paste.

"I chain activate Tiger Shark's effect! Once per turn, if either of us takes effect damage, he deals it to you again!" The fusion monster roared, firing a blast of water from its mouth that doused Kennedy.

"Attack! Cataclysmic Cannon!" Gustav Max fired again, destroying Sea Steel Tiger Shark. "That ends my turn. You better get used to being blasted, darlin', cause you're not winning this duel."

 **(CLP 5700) - (KLP 6000)**

"Stuff it!" Caspian drew a card, quickly formulating a strategy. It was risky, but he literally didn't have any other options at this point. "Deck don't fail me now!"

"I activate Fusion Recovery, so I get back Polymerization and Sea Steel Thorn Starfish." The two cards slid out of his Duel Disk's graveyard slot, and he quickly snatched them up. "Next, I summon Sea Steel Dogfish!" Another one of his sea creatures swam onto the field. This one was a small shark, with metallic grey skin that was pierced by several fishhooks. (ATK 1600)

"I always wondered, why is it called a dogfish?" Kennedy cocked his head curiously. "At least catfish have whiskers."

"They travel in packs." Caspian shrugged. "Anyways, summoning Dogfish lets me bring out another low level Sea Steel from my hand, like the Starfish I just recovered." The spiky starfish appeared, crouching in Defense Mode. (DEF 900)

"I set one card and end my turn. I think I'm finally getting my second wind, _lover_." The merman was starting to get excited, he hadn't had a duel this intense in years! Kennedy really knew how to bring out the wild side in Caspian.

"It's my move!" Kennedy looked at his six cards and grinned. He was already on the fast track to winning and finally proving that he was the better duelist. _More than that, I can show him how much cooler I've gotten! And then he'll have to-_

"I activate Fish Depth Charge!" Caspian's set card lifted up, interrupting Kennedy's inner monologue. "I have to tribute one Fish monster to activate this trap, but it lets me destroy your big toy train, and draw an extra card!" Dogfish began to spin around rapidly, turning into a living torpedo, and fired itself at Gustav Max, blowing the enormous machine to pieces.

"I'm impressed, Cassy, you put me in a corner!" Kennedy laughed. He played a card, and a new monster exited the summoning portal. It was a large set of orange buffers, a machine used to stop trains from going off the tracks. "I summon Construction Train Signal Red, in attack mode, and I'll have it attack your little starfish friend." The strange machine drove forward and ran over the invertebrate.

"You activated Thorn Starfish's effect! I get to banish it, and summon another one from my deck!" A new starfish, identical to the first one, swam out and fired a needle at Kennedy. "And when I do that, you take 500 damage! I also gain 500 life points from my Soul Absorption!"

"Guess I'll end my turn."

 **(CLP 6200) - (KLP 5500)**

"My draw!" Caspian gasped when he saw the card. It was Tears of a Mermaid, the present Kennedy had given him before he moved. Seeing it made a bubble of emotion rise up, which made him blush. _Stupid sappy cowboy_... He smiled.

"I activate Sea Steel Abyss!" Both Duel Disks hummed as the field was washed over, pun intended, with a hologram, changing the cliff side into a beautiful ocean. "I love using this card, it makes me feel right at home. And my monsters feel the same way, because all of them gain 300 points to both scores!"

Sea Steel Thorn Starfish seemed to perk up, moving around excitedly. "Now I can use its second effect to banish Sea Steel Piranha from my graveyard, and add another Sea Steel card to my hand!" A card slid out of Caspian's disk and he grabbed it, activating the auto-shuffler. At the same time, a phantasmal version of Piranha began hovering over the field.

"Uh, what's that doin' there?" Kennedy asked. He wasn't a fan of regular piranhas, let alone ones made of metal.

"When my piranha is banished, it takes one of your Spell or Trap cards with it!" The fish dived and bit into one of Kennedy's set cards, which revealed itself to be Soul Drain. Caspian let out a sigh of relief at that, his monsters didn't do well without their effects. Soul Absorption activated, increasing his life points to 6700.

"Now for my comeback moment! I play Polymerization again, and fuse Sea Steel Swordfish with Thorn Starfish!" Caspian watched as the fusion portal opened once more, and drew in his two monsters. " _Writhing tentacles striking from the depth, arise and join my fight!_ I Fusion Summon Sea Steel Kraken!"

Unlike Caspian's last fusion, the portal opened on the ground. The first thing to exit was a mass of tentacles, Kennedy managed to get to 12 before losing count, which were all metallic grey in color. They seemed to pull the rest of the monster out of the portal, nearly scaring Kennedy half to death. It was definitely a cephalopod of some kind, resembling some cross between an octopus or squid and a demonic creature. It had two enormous red eyes, and was wearing a sunken ship as armor. (ATK 2900)

"Yeah, it scares me too." Caspian admitted, grimacing slightly. "But it's more than strong enough to take out your little train! Attack with Tentacle Torment!" Kraken reached out with its two largest tentacles and crushed Construction Train Signal Red into pixels. Kennedy stood his ground, looking Caspian in the eye and smirking.

"I move to my Main Phase 2 and..." Looking at his hand, he knew he should set Tears of a Mermaid to defend against Kennedy's face down card, but looking at it gave him such a strong feeling, he didn't want it to stop. "I end my turn."

"Alright, Cassy, this duel's over!" Kennedy drew a card, but didn't look at it. "I activate Special Schedule! This handy little number works just like Monster Reborn, but only for Machines with at least 3000 attack points. So say hello again to my Super Express Bullet Train!" The sharp, rocket-like train rose up from under the dirt, as if being lifted by an unseen platform.

"Since I just summoned a level 10 Machine monster, I get to Special Summon Heavy Freight Train Derricrane from my hand!" With a loud whistle, a new train drove onto the field. It was, just like the name said, a derrick crane, a type of train used for engineering. (ATK 1400) "That cuts its points in half, but it won't be around for very long."

Another swirling vortex opened in front of the cowboy duelist, drawing in both of his trains. "I overlay my two level 10 monsters! Watch in wonder as these two monsters of the land unite to form an even more massive mega monster! I Xyz Summon Skypalace Gangaridai!" The monster descended from the sky dramatically. It was a strange machine, some kind of combination of a zeppelin and a boat. (ATK 3400, 2 OU)

"Gesundheit." Caspian snarked. He'd seen this card before, and wasn't impressed.

"I activate my flying machine's effect! By detaching an overlay unit, I can blow up one of your cards and deal you a thousand damage!" Kennedy quickly discarded Derricrane's card, and Gangaridai launched a missile at Caspian's field. "Go, Torrid Torpedo!"

Kraken roared with its unseen mouth as it exploded into a cloud of pixels, leaving its duelist defenseless. "Attack me if you want, I'll still have some life points left!"

"I'm not gonna attack, not yet." The cowboy shook his head. "This is a new trick I picked up to impress you. Go, Xyz Evolution!" Skypalace Gangaridai was swallowed up by another summoning portal, much to Caspian's surprise.

"I Xyz Summon Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe!" Kennedy laughed, as the biggest monster yet emerged from the vortex. It was, like the name implied, a rail cannon, but this thing was so massive that it put Gustav Max to shame. It looked more like a tank than anything, made of solid green and black metal with orange Tron-lines running across its body. (ATK 4000, 2 OU)

"It's got _love_ in its name, 'cause it's as big as my love for you, darlin'." He winked flirtatiously.

"Is that what you're calling it now?" Caspian snarked.

"Heh, I love your sense of humor, almost as much as that sweet backside o' yours." Kennedy grinned, causing Caspian's face to turn completely red. "I use my Juggernaut's effect! If I get rid of an Overlay Unit, it gains 2000 points to both scores!"

Juggernaut Liebe glowed with a bright orange aura, as its ATK rose to 6000. "Attack directly with Blitzkrieg Barrage!" Liebe fired a single shot, covering the entire field in an explosion.

(CLP 0) - (KLP 3600)

Caspian, in an impulsive move, rushed over to Kennedy and wrapped his arms around him, the two men kissing passionately. They'd missed this, missed each other.

"I love you." Caspian sighed, resting his head on the blonde's shoulder. "What took you so long?"

"I had to save up enough money to buy a place here, and find a job so I could provide for us." Kennedy explained. "I wanted to be prepared."

The redheaded man chuckled and playfully punched his boyfriend. "You don't need to provide for us, this isn't the 1950s and I'm not your wife. I've got a job of my own, and it pays pretty well."

"Let's not rule out the wife part just yet." Kennedy smirked. "And speaking of jobs, when are ya gonna introduce me to this team of yours?"

"In about... ten minutes." Caspian answered, tackling his boyfriend and kissing him over and over again.

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I had a lot of fun writing this, I hope you guys enjoy reading it!

And happy pride month!

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Cards from the anime/manga:

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Heaven's Lost Property: *peasants rejoicing as white feathers fall from the sky*

Card Type- Spell

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Both players draw 3 cards, then discard 2. You can only activate 1 "Heaven's Lost Property" each turn.

First Used: GX manga, chapter 42

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Tears of a Mermaid: *a redheaded mermaid swimming inside a teardrop*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Counter

Text- ?

First Used: DM anime, "Match of the Millennium Part 1"

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Cards I invented:

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Sea Steel Kraken: *enormous squid wearing a cruise ship as armor*

Card Type- Fusion Monster

Monster Type- Aqua

Level- 7

Attribute- WATER

ATK/DEF- 2600/2200

Text- 2 "Sea Steel" monsters. This card can attack every monster your opponent controls, once each. Once per turn, if a WATER monster is Banished from your field or GY, you may draw 1 card.

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Sea Steel Dogfish: *small shark with metallic skin and several hooks in its fins*

Card Type- Effect Monster

Monster Type- Fish

Attribute- WATER

Level- 4

ATK/DEF- 1600/1100

Text- When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Sea Steel" monster from your hand. If this card is Banished by your own card effect, you can destroy 1 face-up monster on the field. You can only use each effect of "Sea Steel Dogfish" once per turn.

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Sea Steel Tiger Shark: *enormous shark wearing armor that resembles a submarine*

Card Type- Fusion Monster

Monster Type- Fish

Attribute- WATER

Level- 7

ATK/DEF- 2700/1800

Text- 1 "Sea Steel" monster + 1 Fish-Type monster. Once per turn, if a player(s) takes effect damage, you can inflict that same amount of damage to your opponent. While you have 3 or more Banished "Sea Steel" monsters with different names, your opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards during your Battle Phase.

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Rejuvenating Slime: *Humanoid Slime regenerating while a confused knight hacks away at it with his sword*

Card Type- Trap

Spell/Trap Type- Normal

Text- Activate only when your opponent Special Summons a monster(s). Discard 1 "Slime" monster, then gain Life Points equal to the ATK of the Special Summoned monster(s). You can only activate 1 "Rejuvenating Slime" each turn.


End file.
